And Australia cracked over ten thousand new cases yesterday, the highest ever.

Spiny Norman said:

And Australia cracked over ten thousand new cases yesterday, the highest ever.

12th place on the Worldometer list for new cases yesterday (and 6 of the countries with higher numbers had fewer new cases/head).

The Rev Dodgson said:

Spiny Norman said:

And Australia cracked over ten thousand new cases yesterday, the highest ever.

12th place on the Worldometer list for new cases yesterday (and 6 of the countries with higher numbers had fewer new cases/head).

Still waaay down at 168 on the deaths per million (85/million).

My mother’s nursing home had 2 residents and 3 staff test positive on the day before Christmas. They are waiting on the results of another round of testing done on Boxing Day. And they will test again on 30th. Most of them had had their boosters. Shame for the aware residents, no visitors for Christmas, and confined to rooms. Mum wouldn’t have noticed anything different from usual.

buffy said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Spiny Norman said:

And Australia cracked over ten thousand new cases yesterday, the highest ever.

12th place on the Worldometer list for new cases yesterday (and 6 of the countries with higher numbers had fewer new cases/head).

Still waaay down at 168 on the deaths per million (85/million).

My mother’s nursing home had 2 residents and 3 staff test positive on the day before Christmas. They are waiting on the results of another round of testing done on Boxing Day. And they will test again on 30th. Most of them had had their boosters. Shame for the aware residents, no visitors for Christmas, and confined to rooms. Mum wouldn’t have noticed anything different from usual.

People haven’t started dying from the latest surge yet.

IN FOCUS
Vaccination among COVID-19 cases in the NSW Delta outbreak
Reporting period: 16 June to 7 October 2021

https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/covid-19/Documents/in-focus/covid-19-vaccination-case-surveillance-051121.pdf

fsm said:

More evidence that, were it not for the no-vax posers/dickheads, all this would pretty much be over with by now.

The Rev Dodgson said:

Spiny Norman said:

And Australia cracked over ten thousand new cases yesterday, the highest ever.

12th place on the Worldometer list for new cases yesterday (and 6 of the countries with higher numbers had fewer new cases/head).

Whoa!

Daaamn …. :(

https://www.reddit.com/r/CoronavirusDownunder/comments/rp192n/insight_into_whats_happening_inside_pathologies/

Spiny Norman said:

Daaamn …. :(

https://www.reddit.com/r/CoronavirusDownunder/comments/rp192n/insight_into_whats_happening_inside_pathologies/

There does need to be more publicity about what goes into a PCR test.

It’s not like one of those pregnancy tests or whatever, you don’t just dip the swap in a few mls of a solution and see if it changes colour, then on to the next one.

Your sample takes four hours in an analyser. So does the swab for the person ahead of you in the line, and the one from the person behind. There’s 12 hours of machine time right there, and most analysers can only do one at a time.

The wonder is that tests have been so quick so far.

The message should be that unless you have a damn good reason to ask for one (and you’ll find them on the health dept websites), then don’t ask for a test.

Must get numbers of deaths per million per day in every country down under 10. It was under 10 back in the second half of July 2021.

Omicron variant.

Total vaccinations to date.

Vaccinations per day. Australia was topping the world a few weeks ago for vaccination rate. Not any more.

Queensland refuses to be left behind by the southern states and records over a thousand cases in one day, a personal best.
Queenslanders have obviously responded well to the state authorities who said the more people who get covid the safer Queensland will be.

>99% of Australians over 70 years old have been vaccinated, and 97% of those over 50.

Deaths daily are stable or on a downward trend. Although the Omicron cases are booming the general word is that the fatality rate from Omicron will be lower than for delta. We’ll see what the death rates do over the next couple of weeks but at this point I think there is no need to panic.

You’ve all done very well

dv said:

>99% of Australians over 70 years old have been vaccinated, and 97% of those over 50.

Deaths daily are stable or on a downward trend. Although the Omicron cases are booming the general word is that the fatality rate from Omicron will be lower than for delta. We’ll see what the death rates do over the next couple of weeks but at this point I think there is no need to panic.

You’ve all done very well

The fact remains that, if the no-vax-for-me mob had got their vaccinations, a lot of the people who will die in coming weeks need not have died.

captain_spalding said:

dv said:

>99% of Australians over 70 years old have been vaccinated, and 97% of those over 50.

Deaths daily are stable or on a downward trend. Although the Omicron cases are booming the general word is that the fatality rate from Omicron will be lower than for delta. We’ll see what the death rates do over the next couple of weeks but at this point I think there is no need to panic.

You’ve all done very well

The fact remains that, if the no-vax-for-me mob had got their vaccinations, a lot of the people who will die in coming weeks need not have died.

Well if the risk of dying after double dose is 1/16 the risk for no vax, and if the number of cases is 16x the previous peak, numbers of deaths are likely to be much the same, aren’t they?

captain_spalding said:

dv said:

>99% of Australians over 70 years old have been vaccinated, and 97% of those over 50.

Deaths daily are stable or on a downward trend. Although the Omicron cases are booming the general word is that the fatality rate from Omicron will be lower than for delta. We’ll see what the death rates do over the next couple of weeks but at this point I think there is no need to panic.

You’ve all done very well

The fact remains that, if the no-vax-for-me mob had got their vaccinations, a lot of the people who will die in coming weeks need not have died.

but is death the worst thing you can get from a program of endemic covid

transition said:

captain_spalding said:

dv said:

>99% of Australians over 70 years old have been vaccinated, and 97% of those over 50.

Deaths daily are stable or on a downward trend. Although the Omicron cases are booming the general word is that the fatality rate from Omicron will be lower than for delta. We’ll see what the death rates do over the next couple of weeks but at this point I think there is no need to panic.

You’ve all done very well

The fact remains that, if the no-vax-for-me mob had got their vaccinations, a lot of the people who will die in coming weeks need not have died.

but is death the worst thing you can get from a program of endemic covid

It’s right up there with loss of smell.

Peak Warming Man said:

transition said:

captain_spalding said:

The fact remains that, if the no-vax-for-me mob had got their vaccinations, a lot of the people who will die in coming weeks need not have died.

but is death the worst thing you can get from a program of endemic covid

It’s right up there with loss of smell.

I was thinking of all the possibilities from post-covid conditions, having your equilibrium mental states rendered worse than marginal, and once easy tasks, both physical and mental, becoming a great effort, even terribly uncomfortable

you’ve probably thought plenty about it, between watching the cricket, given it a little study time

transition said:

captain_spalding said:

dv said:

>99% of Australians over 70 years old have been vaccinated, and 97% of those over 50.

Deaths daily are stable or on a downward trend. Although the Omicron cases are booming the general word is that the fatality rate from Omicron will be lower than for delta. We’ll see what the death rates do over the next couple of weeks but at this point I think there is no need to panic.

You’ve all done very well

The fact remains that, if the no-vax-for-me mob had got their vaccinations, a lot of the people who will die in coming weeks need not have died.

but is death the worst thing you can get from a program of endemic covid

I mean I think for me death would be the worst thing but obviously death isn’t the only bad thing that can happen.

Today’s Qld figures.

transition said:

captain_spalding said:

dv said:

>99% of Australians over 70 years old have been vaccinated, and 97% of those over 50.

Deaths daily are stable or on a downward trend. Although the Omicron cases are booming the general word is that the fatality rate from Omicron will be lower than for delta. We’ll see what the death rates do over the next couple of weeks but at this point I think there is no need to panic.

You’ve all done very well

The fact remains that, if the no-vax-for-me mob had got their vaccinations, a lot of the people who will die in coming weeks need not have died.

but is death the worst thing you can get from a program of endemic covid

Well…in the scheme of things…yes. It’s what pretty much everyone is trying to avoid.

dv said:

>99% of Australians over 70 years old have been vaccinated, and 97% of those over 50.

Deaths daily are stable or on a downward trend. Although the Omicron cases are booming the general word is that the fatality rate from Omicron will be lower than for delta. We’ll see what the death rates do over the next couple of weeks but at this point I think there is no need to panic.

You’ve all done very well

Even in the UK with case numbers still going up, the deaths per day graph is pretty stable.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/

USA is a bit more wibbly wobbly.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-creates-immunity-for-life-scientist-claims/ar-AASbVec

On Tuesday Mr Dix claimed the durable cellular immunity response produced by the UK-made jab can potentially ‘last for life’.

buffy said:

transition said:

captain_spalding said:

The fact remains that, if the no-vax-for-me mob had got their vaccinations, a lot of the people who will die in coming weeks need not have died.

but is death the worst thing you can get from a program of endemic covid

Well…in the scheme of things…yes. It’s what pretty much everyone is trying to avoid.

well that’s an easy thing to think, really people try to maintain and even optimize their fitness, which has a corresponding rewarding mental state, if you can manage it

focusing on the deaths conforms to the propaganda intentions more so, propaganda required to sell endemic covid

JudgeMental said:

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-creates-immunity-for-life-scientist-claims/ar-AASbVec

On Tuesday Mr Dix claimed the durable cellular immunity response produced by the UK-made jab can potentially ‘last for life’.

The AstraZeneca vaccine may be reducing the UK’s Covid death rate because it provides immunity for life unlike other jabs.

Britain’s wide use of Oxford University-made jab in vulnerable people may be behind the country’s lower death toll compared to Europe in recent months, according to Clive Dix, the former chairman of the UK’s Vaccine Task Force.

Australia has administered 13.6 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine but has relied more on Pfizer with 25.3 million doses given over the course of the jab rollout.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-creates-immunity-for-life-scientist-claims/ar-AASbVec

buffy said:

dv said:

>99% of Australians over 70 years old have been vaccinated, and 97% of those over 50.

Deaths daily are stable or on a downward trend. Although the Omicron cases are booming the general word is that the fatality rate from Omicron will be lower than for delta. We’ll see what the death rates do over the next couple of weeks but at this point I think there is no need to panic.

You’ve all done very well

Even in the UK with case numbers still going up, the deaths per day graph is pretty stable.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/

USA is a bit more wibbly wobbly.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

UK stable but fairly high … like 100 a day typically.

dv said:

buffy said:

dv said:

>99% of Australians over 70 years old have been vaccinated, and 97% of those over 50.

Deaths daily are stable or on a downward trend. Although the Omicron cases are booming the general word is that the fatality rate from Omicron will be lower than for delta. We’ll see what the death rates do over the next couple of weeks but at this point I think there is no need to panic.

You’ve all done very well

Even in the UK with case numbers still going up, the deaths per day graph is pretty stable.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/

USA is a bit more wibbly wobbly.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

UK stable but fairly high … like 100 a day typically.

They have got more population than us. And it’s Winter, so sicklier.

JudgeMental said:

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-creates-immunity-for-life-scientist-claims/ar-AASbVec

On Tuesday Mr Dix claimed the durable cellular immunity response produced by the UK-made jab can potentially ‘last for life’.

From that piece:

>>On Tuesday Mr Dix claimed the durable cellular immunity response produced by the UK-made jab can potentially ‘last for life’.

‘If you look across Europe, with the rise in cases, there’s also a corresponding lagged rise in deaths, but not in the UK, and we have to understand that,’ he told the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.

‘I personally believe that’s because most of our vulnerable people were given the AstraZeneca vaccine.’

‘We’ve seen early data that the Oxford jab produces a very durable cellular response and if you’ve got a durable cellular immunity response then they can last for a long time.

‘It can last for life in some cases.’<<

As an AZ person, I’d like this to be true.

buffy said:

dv said:

buffy said:

Even in the UK with case numbers still going up, the deaths per day graph is pretty stable.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/

USA is a bit more wibbly wobbly.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

UK stable but fairly high … like 100 a day typically.

They have got more population than us. And it’s Winter, so sicklier.

They have about 2.5 times our population so an equiv rate would be about 12.5 a day

buffy said:

dv said:

buffy said:

Even in the UK with case numbers still going up, the deaths per day graph is pretty stable.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/

USA is a bit more wibbly wobbly.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

UK stable but fairly high … like 100 a day typically.

They have got more population than us. And it’s Winter, so sicklier.

Yes and a lot sicklier today.

dv said:

buffy said:

dv said:

UK stable but fairly high … like 100 a day typically.

They have got more population than us. And it’s Winter, so sicklier.

They have about 2.5 times our population so an equiv rate would be about 12.5 a day

Wouldn’t that be 40?

furious said:

dv said:

buffy said:

They have got more population than us. And it’s Winter, so sicklier.

They have about 2.5 times our population so an equiv rate would be about 12.5 a day

Wouldn’t that be 40?

We seem to be running about 7 or 8 a day on the 7 day average. (Yes, my calculator says 40 also)

transition said:

focusing on the deaths conforms to the propaganda intentions more so, propaganda required to sell endemic covid

On first reading that seems to make no sense at all.

I’ll give it a few more years thought.

The Rev Dodgson said:

transition said:

focusing on the deaths conforms to the propaganda intentions more so, propaganda required to sell endemic covid

On first reading that seems to make no sense at all.

I’ll give it a few more years thought.

you let me know if you want an explanation, we can expore the alien cognitive territory it landed in

So , did we all have a happy festive season?

furious said:

dv said:

buffy said:

They have got more population than us. And it’s Winter, so sicklier.

They have about 2.5 times our population so an equiv rate would be about 12.5 a day

Wouldn’t that be 40?

So you’re telling me that 2.5 times 5 is 40?

dv said:

furious said:

dv said:

They have about 2.5 times our population so an equiv rate would be about 12.5 a day

Wouldn’t that be 40?

So you’re telling me that 2.5 times 5 is 40?

What 5? There was no 5. I thought you meant the other way around. The equivalent of 100, in Australia would be 40…

furious said:

dv said:

furious said:

Wouldn’t that be 40?

So you’re telling me that 2.5 times 5 is 40?

What 5? There was no 5. I thought you meant the other way around. The equivalent of 100, in Australia would be 40…

5.
The number of deaths in Australia yesterday.

5 deaths per day in Australia.

UK is 2.5 times the population…

so the equivalent death rate in the UK …

would be 12.5 deaths per day…

are you folks still drunk?

hey DV..do you know ow the ‘voices of’ independents are polling? I get the feeling Morrison is worried about it. I saw the lady sitting in Craig Kelly’s seat interviewed and she was such an articulate bit of fresh air.

sarahs mum said:

hey DV..do you know ow the ‘voices of’ independents are polling? I get the feeling Morrison is worried about it. I saw the lady sitting in Craig Kelly’s seat interviewed and she was such an articulate bit of fresh air.

I have no polling data on that. Probably such seat level polling won’t become available until a few weeks before the election, whenever that is.

Just got a phone call. SWMBO and I went out to dinner last evening with another couple. Just found out that they are now in isolation and waiting for test results as one of the people they were with on xmas day has tested +ve.

sibeen said:

Just got a phone call. SWMBO and I went out to dinner last evening with another couple. Just found out that they are now in isolation and waiting for test results as one of the people they were with on xmas day has tested +ve.

Are you going to take precautions?

sibeen said:

Just got a phone call. SWMBO and I went out to dinner last evening with another couple. Just found out that they are now in isolation and waiting for test results as one of the people they were with on xmas day has tested +ve.

so will you go and get a PCR test or just do a antigen test?

dv said:

furious said:

dv said:

So you’re telling me that 2.5 times 5 is 40?

What 5? There was no 5. I thought you meant the other way around. The equivalent of 100, in Australia would be 40…

5.
The number of deaths in Australia yesterday.

5 deaths per day in Australia.

UK is 2.5 times the population…

so the equivalent death rate in the UK …

would be 12.5 deaths per day…

are you folks still drunk?

Like I said, I did it the other way around.

100 deaths per day in the UK

At 2.5x the population of Australia

So, the equivalent death rate in Australia would be 40…

sibeen said:

Just got a phone call. SWMBO and I went out to dinner last evening with another couple. Just found out that they are now in isolation and waiting for test results as one of the people they were with on xmas day has tested +ve.

oh bother…

dv said:

sibeen said:

Just got a phone call. SWMBO and I went out to dinner last evening with another couple. Just found out that they are now in isolation and waiting for test results as one of the people they were with on xmas day has tested +ve.

Are you going to take precautions?

Yeah, wasn’t planning on going anywhere in the next day or so and we’ve enough leftovers to tide us through the zombie apocalypse.

diddly-squat said:

sibeen said:

Just got a phone call. SWMBO and I went out to dinner last evening with another couple. Just found out that they are now in isolation and waiting for test results as one of the people they were with on xmas day has tested +ve.

so will you go and get a PCR test or just do a antigen test?

I don’t have any faith in the antigen test. I’ll wait to see whether the other couple tests +ve.

furious said:

dv said:

furious said:

What 5? There was no 5. I thought you meant the other way around. The equivalent of 100, in Australia would be 40…

5.
The number of deaths in Australia yesterday.

5 deaths per day in Australia.

UK is 2.5 times the population…

so the equivalent death rate in the UK …

would be 12.5 deaths per day…

are you folks still drunk?

Like I said, I did it the other way around.

100 deaths per day in the UK

At 2.5x the population of Australia

So, the equivalent death rate in Australia would be 40…

Okay … I mean either way the conclusion is the same, they are running at a death rate an order of magnitude higher than Australia’s.

seems to me we probably need to move away from the surveillance level testing and start to push towards a more personal responsibility level of response

diddly-squat said:

seems to me we probably need to move away from the surveillance level testing and start to push towards a more personal responsibility level of response

sibeen said:

diddly-squat said:

sibeen said:

Just got a phone call. SWMBO and I went out to dinner last evening with another couple. Just found out that they are now in isolation and waiting for test results as one of the people they were with on xmas day has tested +ve.

so will you go and get a PCR test or just do a antigen test?

I don’t have any faith in the antigen test. I’ll wait to see whether the other couple tests +ve.

the antigen tests are pretty good

diddly-squat said:

sibeen said:

diddly-squat said:

so will you go and get a PCR test or just do a antigen test?

I don’t have any faith in the antigen test. I’ll wait to see whether the other couple tests +ve.

the antigen tests are pretty good

If you have symptoms. Otherwise they are 50/50 if they get it right.

dv said:

furious said:

dv said:

5.
The number of deaths in Australia yesterday.

5 deaths per day in Australia.

UK is 2.5 times the population…

so the equivalent death rate in the UK …

would be 12.5 deaths per day…

are you folks still drunk?

Like I said, I did it the other way around.

100 deaths per day in the UK

At 2.5x the population of Australia

So, the equivalent death rate in Australia would be 40…

Okay … I mean either way the conclusion is the same, they are running at a death rate an order of magnitude higher than Australia’s.

I wonder how the global birth rate compares with the covid death rate currently i.e. since the beginning of covid deaths to now. It would be hard to know the true figure though based on the cloud over the original cases in Wuhan … which is considered to be ground zero.

dv said:

diddly-squat said:

seems to me we probably need to move away from the surveillance level testing and start to push towards a more personal responsibility level of response

because of the impact that quarantining of close contacts is having on all sorts of things.. if you are sick, you isolate.. we need to stop with the mandated test and quarantine regime

buffy said:

diddly-squat said:

sibeen said:

I don’t have any faith in the antigen test. I’ll wait to see whether the other couple tests +ve.

the antigen tests are pretty good

If you have symptoms. Otherwise they are 50/50 if they get it right.

my understanding was that they missed about 1 in 5 positive results

monkey skipper said:

dv said:

furious said:

Like I said, I did it the other way around.

100 deaths per day in the UK

At 2.5x the population of Australia

So, the equivalent death rate in Australia would be 40…

Okay … I mean either way the conclusion is the same, they are running at a death rate an order of magnitude higher than Australia’s.

I wonder how the global birth rate compares with the covid death rate currently i.e. since the beginning of covid deaths to now. It would be hard to know the true figure though based on the cloud over the original cases in Wuhan … which is considered to be ground zero.

Most countries in the world don’t have a great system for tracking and publishing population changes so it might be quite some time before we can do this. There’s been suggestion that the excess deaths in India are 5x higher than the number of official covid deaths.

diddly-squat said:

sibeen said:

diddly-squat said:

so will you go and get a PCR test or just do a antigen test?

I don’t have any faith in the antigen test. I’ll wait to see whether the other couple tests +ve.

the antigen tests are pretty good

Anecdotal Alert

I’ve known three people use the test. One was a false positive and the other two, including elder sprog, were false negatives.

diddly-squat said:

dv said:

diddly-squat said:

seems to me we probably need to move away from the surveillance level testing and start to push towards a more personal responsibility level of response

because of the impact that quarantining of close contacts is having on all sorts of things.. if you are sick, you isolate.. we need to stop with the mandated test and quarantine regime

yeah but again, why though? I think I’m comfortable with the current level of caution.

sibeen said:

diddly-squat said:

sibeen said:

I don’t have any faith in the antigen test. I’ll wait to see whether the other couple tests +ve.

the antigen tests are pretty good

Anecdotal Alert

I’ve known three people use the test. One was a false positive and the other two, including elder sprog, were false negatives.

Seems pretty consistent then…

sibeen said:

diddly-squat said:

sibeen said:

I don’t have any faith in the antigen test. I’ll wait to see whether the other couple tests +ve.

the antigen tests are pretty good

Anecdotal Alert

I’ve known three people use the test. One was a false positive and the other two, including elder sprog, were false negatives.

interesting.. i expect there a great number of variables in play..

diddly-squat said:

sibeen said:

diddly-squat said:

so will you go and get a PCR test or just do a antigen test?

I don’t have any faith in the antigen test. I’ll wait to see whether the other couple tests +ve.

the antigen tests are pretty good

I did one on returning home from Christmas with the Central Coast family and I scored 0 lines.. fail iow

dv said:

diddly-squat said:

dv said:

because of the impact that quarantining of close contacts is having on all sorts of things.. if you are sick, you isolate.. we need to stop with the mandated test and quarantine regime

yeah but again, why though? I think I’m comfortable with the current level of caution.

because like I said, people are losing work, flights are being cancled because they can’t be crewed, businesses are closing because they don’t have staff.. it’s time to stop being OTT… we are more than 90% vaxxed we are in a good place

diddly-squat said:

buffy said:

diddly-squat said:

the antigen tests are pretty good

If you have symptoms. Otherwise they are 50/50 if they get it right.

my understanding was that they missed about 1 in 5 positive results

I can’t immediately find the reference for the 50/50 split. But here is some stuff from the RACGP:

—————————————————————————————————————

However, Professor Morgan also warned the tests have their limitations.

‘They are not a panacea, that’s for sure,’ he said.

One of the most high-profile concerns surrounding rapid antigen testing is their accuracy. They tend to only test positive just before the onset of symptoms and for a week once symptoms have set in. They are known to be more likely to return a false negative or false positive compared to a PCR test.

Infectious diseases physician and microbiologist Associate Professor Paul Griffin of the University of Queensland says that while he thinks the tests should be used more widely, he has concerns about the impact of an incorrect result.

‘A false negative in someone who was potentially infectious, if they were not mindful of the limitations of this type of testing, could have very significant consequences in terms of contributing to the onward transmission of the virus,’ he said.

—————————————————————————————————

https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/rapid-antigen-testing-guidelines-published

having people line up for hours to get a test then wait days for the results isn’t a workable solution to anything

I read a story this morning about a pregnant woman that is near her delivery date and she’s had to have a PCR test every 72 hours for that last month to satisfy the hospital’s entry conditions.

And here is the Cochrane summary:

https://www.cochrane.org/CD013705/INFECTN_how-accurate-are-rapid-tests-diagnosing-covid-19

diddly-squat said:

having people line up for hours to get a test then wait days for the results isn’t a workable solution to anything

I read a story this morning about a pregnant woman that is near her delivery date and she’s had to have a PCR test every 72 hours for that last month to satisfy the hospital’s entry conditions.

In Vic we’ve only been waiting a day for the results.

sibeen said:

diddly-squat said:

having people line up for hours to get a test then wait days for the results isn’t a workable solution to anything

I read a story this morning about a pregnant woman that is near her delivery date and she’s had to have a PCR test every 72 hours for that last month to satisfy the hospital’s entry conditions.

In Vic we’ve only been waiting a day for the results.

the system is starting to get strained here in Qld to the point where Anna has just removed the requirement for the 5 day test upon arrival …

buffy said:

And here is the Cochrane summary:

https://www.cochrane.org/CD013705/INFECTN_how-accurate-are-rapid-tests-diagnosing-covid-19

In people with confirmed COVID-19, antigen tests correctly identified COVID-19 infection in an average of 72% of people with symptoms, compared to 58% of people without symptoms. Tests were most accurate when used in the first week after symptoms first developed (an average of 78% of confirmed cases had positive antigen tests). This is likely to be because people have the most virus in their system in the first days after they are infected.

In people who did not have COVID-19, antigen tests correctly ruled out infection in 99.5% of people with symptoms and 98.9% of people without symptoms.

seems a pretty good hit rate to me..

diddly-squat said:

sibeen said:

diddly-squat said:

having people line up for hours to get a test then wait days for the results isn’t a workable solution to anything

I read a story this morning about a pregnant woman that is near her delivery date and she’s had to have a PCR test every 72 hours for that last month to satisfy the hospital’s entry conditions.

In Vic we’ve only been waiting a day for the results.

the system is starting to get strained here in Qld to the point where Anna has just removed the requirement for the 5 day test upon arrival …

Because only 0.6% of those 5 day tests were coming in positive. At least that is how I read the ABC piece.

buffy said:

diddly-squat said:

sibeen said:

In Vic we’ve only been waiting a day for the results.

the system is starting to get strained here in Qld to the point where Anna has just removed the requirement for the 5 day test upon arrival …

Because only 0.6% of those 5 day tests were coming in positive. At least that is how I read the ABC piece.

that’s the political talking point, yes…

https://www.reddit.com/r/CoronavirusDownunder/comments/rp192n/insight_into_whats_happening_inside_pathologies/

probably been posted before.

OK, in the plain language summary there are some examples:

https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD013705.pub2/full

It’s for one particular test though. There are quite a few on the market now.

———————————————————————————————-

Using summary results for SD Biosensor STANDARD Q, if 1000 people with symptoms had the antigen test, and 50 (5%) of them really had COVID‐19:

‐ 53 people would test positive for COVID‐19. Of these, 9 people (17%) would not have COVID‐19 (false positive result).

‐ 947 people would test negative for COVID‐19. Of these, 6 people (0.6%) would actually have COVID‐19 (false negative result).

In people with no symptoms of COVID‐19 the number of confirmed cases is expected to be much lower than in people with symptoms. Using summary results for SD Biosensor STANDARD Q in a bigger population of 10,000 people with no symptoms, where 50 (0.5%) of them really had COVID‐19:

‐ 125 people would test positive for COVID‐19. Of these, 90 people (72%) would not have COVID‐19 (false positive result).

‐ 9,875 people would test negative for COVID‐19. Of these, 15 people (0.2%) would actually have COVID‐19 (false negative result).

———————————————————————————————————————————

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet says the state is in a “strong position” despite the Omicron COVID-19 outbreak, standing by his choice to proceed with relaxing restrictions on December 15.

roughbarked said:

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet says the state is in a “strong position” despite the Omicron COVID-19 outbreak, standing by his choice to proceed with relaxing restrictions on December 15.

He said it was a “good decision” he would make again.

“We’re not really focused on the media commentary, what we’re focused on is looking at the information in front of us,” Mr Perrottet said.

“The health minister and myself … we look at the evidence in front of us, we make the assessment, we tailor our settings to where they are and we’ve always said as we opened up, case numbers will increase.

“I think New South Wales, despite this is in a very strong position. I’m very confident about 2022.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-28/nsw-premier-defends-handling-of-covid19-omicron-outbreak/100727984

roughbarked said:

roughbarked said:

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet says the state is in a “strong position” despite the Omicron COVID-19 outbreak, standing by his choice to proceed with relaxing restrictions on December 15.

He said it was a “good decision” he would make again.

“We’re not really focused on the media commentary, what we’re focused on is looking at the information in front of us,” Mr Perrottet said.

“The health minister and myself … we look at the evidence in front of us, we make the assessment, we tailor our settings to where they are and we’ve always said as we opened up, case numbers will increase.

“I think New South Wales, despite this is in a very strong position. I’m very confident about 2022.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-28/nsw-premier-defends-handling-of-covid19-omicron-outbreak/100727984

He’s a very good Premier.

He does just what the lobbyists/party donors tell him to do.

Deadly fungus that preys on coronavirus patients
John Naish for the Daily Mail 9 hrs ago

Once a patient with severe suffocating Covid-19 is through the doors of a critical care unit, they should be in the safest place to receive life-saving help.

But a further danger may await — a fungus that experts warn is infecting the weakened lungs of one in three Covid patients in intensive care, and killing up to 70 per cent of those affected.

The fungus in question, Aspergillus fumigatus, is all around us — in the air, soil, food and in decaying organic material such as garden compost. It spreads via microscopic spores, although it can be visible as a grey, wrinkled cushion on damp walls. It has also been found in flower beds in hospital grounds.

Aspergillus fumigatus is an opportunistic fungus that preys on people whose immune systems are seriously weakened by illness.

When it invades humans, it causes a condition called aspergillosis, which primarily affects the lungs. There the fungus can grow into a lump up to the size of a tennis ball that can be extremely difficult to eradicate.

The infection can develop into invasive aspergillosis, where it spreads to the skin, brain, heart or kidneys.

Aspergillosis hit the news last month when the widow of a Scottish government official, who died after contracting Covid-19, called on the First Minister of Scotland to investigate the hospital where he was being treated.

Andrew Slorance, who led the Scottish government’s response and communications unit, died nearly six weeks after being admitted to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, last year. He had gone in for cancer treatment, but then contracted Covid-19.

The hospital listed the cause of Mr Slorance’s death as Covid pneumonia. However, his widow, Louise, requested a copy of his medical notes and discovered her husband had also become infected with Aspergillus fumigatus at the hospital.

She believes this may have brought on his death and claims the hospital ‘never mentioned’ the aspergillus infection to her at the time despite the ‘many mentions of it in the medical records’.

The hospital has denied any ‘attempt to conceal information’. It has not, however, answered Good Health’s questions concerning the role of aspergillosis in Mr Slorance’s death.

Experts who have spoken to Good Health say countless Covid patients admitted to critical care units with severe breathing difficulties have then become infected by aspergillus.

Estimates vary over the exact number of critical care patients afflicted. A research press release by investigators at Exeter University in March puts it as high as one in three. An international study in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases in October suggests one in six.

Why the disparity? According to one of Britain’s foremost experts, David Denning, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Manchester, much depends on how good clinicians are at diagnosing severe fungal infection and their awareness of it.

‘If you don’t look for it, you don’t find it,’ he told Good Health. ‘There are probably lots of patients who have died in critical care with this who were never diagnosed.’

The standard treatment is with anti-fungal drugs called azoles.

‘If they are given in good time, these can cure 75 per cent of patients with aspergillus,’ says Professor Denning.

However, aspergillus fungus is developing resistance to these.

This is due primarily to the overuse of azoles both in medicine and agriculture. This has encouraged more virulent strains of the fungus to evolve that are resistant to even high doses of azoles, says Professor Denning.

Azole anti-fungal sprays are used on ornamental plants to keep them looking healthy in greenhouses and on stored bulbs.

In 2019 Matthew Fisher, a professor of fungal disease epidemiology at Imperial College London, searched for drug-resistant aspergillus strains in flower beds outside hospitals, in parks and gardens across southern England, where tulip bulbs are often grown.

Of the eight most worrying London soil samples he found, four were from flower beds outside the Royal Free Hospital and The Whittington Hospital.

All the samples had Aspergillus fumigatus strains that had evolved to resist at least one of three commonly used azole drugs.

‘Drug resistance is something to be very worried about,’ says Professor Denning. ‘Around 13 per cent of aspergillus infections in some areas of London now involve resistant strains.’

Professor Denning says NHS critical care staff must become ‘much more aware and much more careful’ about the threat.

‘With sick people coming into intensive care units (ICU), particularly with Covid, we need to be thinking about aspergillus, taking routine samples. We need a whole new level of vigilance. It is bad enough to be in ICU, but to have a fungus as well, it’s not good.’

Professor Adilia Warris, the co-director of the Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology (the study of fungi), says specialists are trying to find precisely why aspergillus is potentially so lethal to Covid patients.

‘We don’t yet fully understand how the Covid virus interacts with the immune system and makes patients’ defences less able to fight the second hit of the fungal infection,’ she told Good Health.

‘I think coronavirus is damaging very sick patients’ lung structures and airways and doing something to patients’ immune defences. This makes them highly susceptible to acquiring aspergillus.’

One theory, suggested in the journal Microbial Ecology last month, is that both Covid-19 and Aspergillus fumigatus attack the same molecules inside our lungs. So when Covid has effectively breached those defences, aspergillus can come marching in.

‘If the aspergillus takes advantage of weakened patients and grows, then things get really messy,’ says Professor Warris. ‘Mortality rates are very high. Studies so far suggest that these infections can kill up to about 70 per cent of infected patients.’

But it is not only severe Covid that opens the way for aspergillus.

Up until very recently, invasive aspergillosis was seen only to afflict people whose defences were severely laid waste by, for example, chemotherapy, bone marrow transplantation or a disease of the immune system such as Aids.

But in 2019, evidence published in the journal Lancet Respiratory Medicine by Belgian and Dutch investigators revealed how aspergillus had evolved into a super-fungus that could afflict otherwise healthy people with heavy viral infections — particularly with flu.

‘We had not really seen this before,’ says Professor Warris. ‘It made us aware that we should be looking for such problems in people in ICU with severe lung infections.’

Professor Denning says the mortality rate among severe flu patients who contract aspergillus in the UK is around 85 per cent.

Yet aspergillus often goes undetected in intensive care units treating patients with Covid or flu, he says, because the diagnostic methods can be difficult and dangerous.

The main one, bronchoscopy, involves inserting a tube down the nose or mouth and into the airways to take lung samples.

‘This is especially tricky with an infectious virus, from which healthcare workers must protect themselves by taking strict precautions,’ Professor Denning explains. ‘Also, you are working with the lungs of someone who is already short of oxygen so you may cause them serious harm.’

Professor Warris adds: ‘Aspergillus is everywhere in the environment, so just finding some in a patient’s sputum does not mean that they have the disease. It is all very challenging.’

Dr Colin Brown, a consultant in infectious diseases at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) told Good Health that a study of 200 critical-care Covid patients who had aspergillus isolated from lung-fluid samples showed only a quarter actually had been infected by the fungus; the rest had simply breathed in fungal spores from the atmosphere that had not become a problem.

One hope for faster, easier and more accurate diagnosis is being developed by an international team of scientists that includes Professor Chris Thornton, a fungal immunologist at the University of Exeter.

The new technique, revealed in March in the journal Nature Communications, involves injecting a specially engineered antibody that will bind to aspergillosis molecules in the lungs of infected people.

The antibody is painted with a radioactive material that can be spotted on lung scans. Professor Thornton hails the advance as a ‘step-change in the way we diagnose this devastating disease’.

It is however, only a diagnosis. There is still the fact that the infection is highly invasive and difficult to treat. Yet another good reason, then, to get fully vaccinated against Covid-19 — and the flu.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspergillus_fumigatus

Aspergillus fumigatus is a species of fungus in the genus Aspergillus, and is one of the most common Aspergillus species to cause disease in individuals with an immunodeficiency.

Aspergillus fumigatus, a saprotroph widespread in nature, is typically found in soil and decaying organic matter, such as compost heaps, where it plays an essential role in carbon and nitrogen recycling. Colonies of the fungus produce from conidiophores; thousands of minute grey-green conidia (2–3 μm) which readily become airborne. For many years, A. fumigatus was thought to only reproduce asexually, as neither mating nor meiosis had ever been observed. In 2008, A. fumigatus was shown to possess a fully functional sexual reproductive cycle, 145 years after its original description by Fresenius. Although A. fumigatus occurs in areas with widely different climates and environments, it displays low genetic variation and a lack of population genetic differentiation on a global scale. Thus, the capability for sex is maintained, though little genetic variation is produced.

The fungus is capable of growth at 37 °C or 99 °F (normal human body temperature), and can grow at temperatures up to 50 °C or 122 °F, with conidia surviving at 70 °C or 158 °F—conditions it regularly encounters in self-heating compost heaps. Its spores are ubiquitous in the atmosphere, and everybody inhales an estimated several hundred spores each day; typically, these are quickly eliminated by the immune system in healthy individuals. In immunocompromised individuals, such as organ transplant recipients and people with AIDS or leukemia, the fungus is more likely to become pathogenic, over-running the host’s weakened defenses and causing a range of diseases generally termed aspergillosis. Due to the recent increase in the use of immunosuppressants to treat human illnesses, it is estimated that A. fumigatus may be responsible for over 600,000 deaths annually with a mortality rate between 25 and 90%. Several virulence factors have been postulated to explain this opportunistic behaviour.

When the fermentation broth of A. fumigatus was screened, a number of indolic alkaloids with antimitotic properties were discovered. The compounds of interest have been of a class known as tryprostatins, with spirotryprostatin B being of special interest as an anticancer drug.

Aspergillus fumigatus grown on certain building materials can produce genotoxic and cytotoxic mycotoxins, such as gliotoxin.[

more in the article …

monkey skipper said:

Deadly fungus that preys on coronavirus patients
John Naish for the Daily Mail 9 hrs ago

Once a patient with severe suffocating Covid-19 is through the doors of a critical care unit, they should be in the safest place to receive life-saving help.

But a further danger may await — a fungus that experts warn is infecting the weakened lungs of one in three Covid patients in intensive care, and killing up to 70 per cent of those affected.

The fungus in question, Aspergillus fumigatus, is all around us — in the air, soil, food and in decaying organic material such as garden compost. It spreads via microscopic spores, although it can be visible as a grey, wrinkled cushion on damp walls. It has also been found in flower beds in hospital grounds.

Aspergillus fumigatus is an opportunistic fungus that preys on people whose immune systems are seriously weakened by illness.

When it invades humans, it causes a condition called aspergillosis, which primarily affects the lungs. There the fungus can grow into a lump up to the size of a tennis ball that can be extremely difficult to eradicate.

The infection can develop into invasive aspergillosis, where it spreads to the skin, brain, heart or kidneys.

Aspergillosis hit the news last month when the widow of a Scottish government official, who died after contracting Covid-19, called on the First Minister of Scotland to investigate the hospital where he was being treated.

Andrew Slorance, who led the Scottish government’s response and communications unit, died nearly six weeks after being admitted to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, last year. He had gone in for cancer treatment, but then contracted Covid-19.

The hospital listed the cause of Mr Slorance’s death as Covid pneumonia. However, his widow, Louise, requested a copy of his medical notes and discovered her husband had also become infected with Aspergillus fumigatus at the hospital.

She believes this may have brought on his death and claims the hospital ‘never mentioned’ the aspergillus infection to her at the time despite the ‘many mentions of it in the medical records’.

The hospital has denied any ‘attempt to conceal information’. It has not, however, answered Good Health’s questions concerning the role of aspergillosis in Mr Slorance’s death.

Experts who have spoken to Good Health say countless Covid patients admitted to critical care units with severe breathing difficulties have then become infected by aspergillus.

Estimates vary over the exact number of critical care patients afflicted. A research press release by investigators at Exeter University in March puts it as high as one in three. An international study in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases in October suggests one in six.

Why the disparity? According to one of Britain’s foremost experts, David Denning, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Manchester, much depends on how good clinicians are at diagnosing severe fungal infection and their awareness of it.

‘If you don’t look for it, you don’t find it,’ he told Good Health. ‘There are probably lots of patients who have died in critical care with this who were never diagnosed.’

The standard treatment is with anti-fungal drugs called azoles.

‘If they are given in good time, these can cure 75 per cent of patients with aspergillus,’ says Professor Denning.

However, aspergillus fungus is developing resistance to these.

This is due primarily to the overuse of azoles both in medicine and agriculture. This has encouraged more virulent strains of the fungus to evolve that are resistant to even high doses of azoles, says Professor Denning.

Azole anti-fungal sprays are used on ornamental plants to keep them looking healthy in greenhouses and on stored bulbs.

In 2019 Matthew Fisher, a professor of fungal disease epidemiology at Imperial College London, searched for drug-resistant aspergillus strains in flower beds outside hospitals, in parks and gardens across southern England, where tulip bulbs are often grown.

Of the eight most worrying London soil samples he found, four were from flower beds outside the Royal Free Hospital and The Whittington Hospital.

All the samples had Aspergillus fumigatus strains that had evolved to resist at least one of three commonly used azole drugs.

‘Drug resistance is something to be very worried about,’ says Professor Denning. ‘Around 13 per cent of aspergillus infections in some areas of London now involve resistant strains.’

Professor Denning says NHS critical care staff must become ‘much more aware and much more careful’ about the threat.

‘With sick people coming into intensive care units (ICU), particularly with Covid, we need to be thinking about aspergillus, taking routine samples. We need a whole new level of vigilance. It is bad enough to be in ICU, but to have a fungus as well, it’s not good.’

Professor Adilia Warris, the co-director of the Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology (the study of fungi), says specialists are trying to find precisely why aspergillus is potentially so lethal to Covid patients.

‘We don’t yet fully understand how the Covid virus interacts with the immune system and makes patients’ defences less able to fight the second hit of the fungal infection,’ she told Good Health.

‘I think coronavirus is damaging very sick patients’ lung structures and airways and doing something to patients’ immune defences. This makes them highly susceptible to acquiring aspergillus.’

One theory, suggested in the journal Microbial Ecology last month, is that both Covid-19 and Aspergillus fumigatus attack the same molecules inside our lungs. So when Covid has effectively breached those defences, aspergillus can come marching in.

‘If the aspergillus takes advantage of weakened patients and grows, then things get really messy,’ says Professor Warris. ‘Mortality rates are very high. Studies so far suggest that these infections can kill up to about 70 per cent of infected patients.’

But it is not only severe Covid that opens the way for aspergillus.

Up until very recently, invasive aspergillosis was seen only to afflict people whose defences were severely laid waste by, for example, chemotherapy, bone marrow transplantation or a disease of the immune system such as Aids.

But in 2019, evidence published in the journal Lancet Respiratory Medicine by Belgian and Dutch investigators revealed how aspergillus had evolved into a super-fungus that could afflict otherwise healthy people with heavy viral infections — particularly with flu.

‘We had not really seen this before,’ says Professor Warris. ‘It made us aware that we should be looking for such problems in people in ICU with severe lung infections.’

Professor Denning says the mortality rate among severe flu patients who contract aspergillus in the UK is around 85 per cent.

Yet aspergillus often goes undetected in intensive care units treating patients with Covid or flu, he says, because the diagnostic methods can be difficult and dangerous.

The main one, bronchoscopy, involves inserting a tube down the nose or mouth and into the airways to take lung samples.

‘This is especially tricky with an infectious virus, from which healthcare workers must protect themselves by taking strict precautions,’ Professor Denning explains. ‘Also, you are working with the lungs of someone who is already short of oxygen so you may cause them serious harm.’

Professor Warris adds: ‘Aspergillus is everywhere in the environment, so just finding some in a patient’s sputum does not mean that they have the disease. It is all very challenging.’

Dr Colin Brown, a consultant in infectious diseases at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) told Good Health that a study of 200 critical-care Covid patients who had aspergillus isolated from lung-fluid samples showed only a quarter actually had been infected by the fungus; the rest had simply breathed in fungal spores from the atmosphere that had not become a problem.

One hope for faster, easier and more accurate diagnosis is being developed by an international team of scientists that includes Professor Chris Thornton, a fungal immunologist at the University of Exeter.

The new technique, revealed in March in the journal Nature Communications, involves injecting a specially engineered antibody that will bind to aspergillosis molecules in the lungs of infected people.

The antibody is painted with a radioactive material that can be spotted on lung scans. Professor Thornton hails the advance as a ‘step-change in the way we diagnose this devastating disease’.

It is however, only a diagnosis. There is still the fact that the infection is highly invasive and difficult to treat. Yet another good reason, then, to get fully vaccinated against Covid-19 — and the flu.

Charming :/

Hong Kong is clinging to ‘zero covid’ and extreme quarantine. Talent is leaving in droves.

By Theodora Yu and Shibani Mahtani
Yesterday at 2:00 a.m. EST

HONG KONG — Ellie May Paden, 26, came to Hong Kong over a year ago for a new opportunity and a budding relationship. Her LinkedIn page says she is “fortunate enough to be teaching English as a foreign language in a beautiful city,” with a photo of the glittering downtown skyline.

Paden, who runs a side business selling scented candles, found herself isolated by extreme quarantine rules that require anyone returning from abroad to spend weeks in confinement at a cost of thousands of dollars, irrespective of vaccination status. She missed her grandfather’s funeral and the birth of her niece, but she hoped that as vaccination rates rose, Hong Kong might open up.

It wasn’t to be. Paden is now selling her stock of candles and heading back to the United Kingdom before relocating to Canada, joining the swelling ranks of expatriates leaving Hong Kong over its approach to the pandemic.

“No other country takes it as far as three weeks,” Paden said. “It is kind of insane.”

Ellie May Paden makes candles in her kitchen at home in Hong Kong on Nov. 30. (Courtesy of Ellie May Paden)
With China exercising ever-tighter control over Hong Kong, the city is hewing to the country’s strict “zero covid” policy extolled by Beijing as evidence of a superior political system. Yet the approach has largely cut off Hong Kong from both China and the world — a severe blow for a place that built its success on global connections. Even more than recent political changes, the authorities’ refusal to adapt to living with the virus is eroding Hong Kong’s viability as an international city, according to almost two dozen diplomats, chambers of commerce, recruiters, pilots and other expatriates.

The resultant brain drain is altering the face of the financial hub, which some Western companies now consider a hardship post, as fewer people are willing to take the places of those leaving. The number of overseas professionals and investors admitted to Hong Kong under its general employment program dropped from about 41,000 in 2019 to 15,000 last year and 10,000 through the third quarter of 2021, immigration data shows. With quarantine rules unlikely to be lifted within the next year, departures of foreign businesspeople and other expatriates are set to accelerate.

“The long-term damage has already been done to Hong Kong’s viability,” said one senior Western diplomat. “There is an absolute lack of predictability that businesses don’t like.”

Turbulence at Cathay Pacific: China’s threats loom over one of Asia’s leading airlines

Authorities have defended the approach, insisting on the need to keep the virus out — a goal health experts say is unsustainable — as they prioritize reopening to mainland China. The strict measures already included collecting stool samples from young children in hotel quarantine. This month, the omicron variant’s spread led Hong Kong to further tighten rules, lengthening quarantines for most arrivals and threatening holiday travel plans with sudden flight bans for airlines that unwittingly bring in even a few infected passengers.

In a survey released this month, the British Chamber of Commerce found that 70 percent of respondents hoping to add staff in Hong Kong had encountered difficulties, with many citing quarantine restrictions.

“As the rest of the world opens up to international travel, there is a risk that Hong Kong will become increasingly isolated as an international business center,” an overview of the results said, adding that senior executives were relocating to Singapore or Dubai, where borders are more open.

Jan Willem Moller, chairman of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce, said that about a quarter of Dutch businesspeople have left this year, and that the departures would “increase significantly” if the quarantine rules stay in place. “Inflow has pretty much dried up, as well,” he said, adding that colleagues at other chambers reported similar patterns.

Pilots take flight
On the front line of quarantine restrictions are pilots, especially at Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific. Some have been on “closed loop” rotations, alternating between working and isolating for extended periods before they can reenter the community. On layovers, pilots and aircrews are forbidden to leave their hotel rooms, keeping them in a hermetically sealed bubble.

Cathay has occasionally tried to force hotels overseas to provide its pilots and aircrews with single-use card keys to stop them from leaving their rooms, two pilots said. Eight pilots spoke to The Washington Post for this report on the condition of anonymity, fearing repercussions from their employers.

“A lot of colleagues are at breaking point,” said one pilot who resigned recently after more than 15 years flying for Cathay. “I’m tired, and I can’t see the future.”

At least 240 Cathay pilots have quit since May, according to employees who reviewed internal numbers. The carrier is reeling, with staff morale at “rock bottom” after hefty pay cuts last year and more departures imminent, several pilots said. In a statement, Cathay Pacific acknowledged that the regulations were a burden on aircrews, and said it plans to employ “several hundred pilots in the coming year.”

“Our goal was to protect as many jobs as possible, whilst meeting our responsibilities to the Hong Kong aviation hub and our customers,” the airline said.

Resentment spilled over last month when more than 120 students were ordered to a government quarantine camp known as Penny’s Bay after they were deemed to be contacts of a pilot who was among three who tested positive on return from Germany. In a statement this month, the Oneworld Cockpit Crew Coalition, a federation of pilot unions from the Oneworld network, which includes Cathay, said the airline’s pilots faced “untenable” working conditions.

Countries are reopening borders. But China isn’t ready to live with the coronavirus.

One pilot who has flown with Cathay for more than 20 years said the exodus “is only just beginning.”

“Another year, two years, three years or more of quarantine in Hong Kong and there will be almost nobody left. Some pilots haven’t seen their wife and children for two years,” the person added.

Tightened quarantine measures have led other carriers, including British Airways and Swiss International Air Lines, to suspend Hong Kong flights. Cargo operator FedEx said last month that it would shut its crew base in the city and relocate pilots over the next 16 months.

One FedEx pilot decided he could not wait that long and will leave permanently early next year.

“With pretty much every expert agreeing that unfortunately covid-19 is here to stay, what exactly is China or Hong Kong’s end game?” he said.

Separation anxiety

On top of the quarantine rules, Hong Kong temporarily bans flights by airlines found to be carrying at least four passengers who test positive for the virus on arrival. Qatar Airways, Nepal Airlines, Air India, Korean Air and Cathay Pacific routes from some cities are currently subject to bans, which are often announced with little warning, throwing travel plans into disarray. Three of these routes, including Cathay Pacific flights from London to Hong Kong, were banned just before Christmas.

Flight changes have prevented people from seeing dying relatives and complicated travelers’ efforts to return to Hong Kong. A shortage of rooms at quarantine hotels has added to the frustration. Meanwhile, businesses including banks, media and restaurant groups have begun to pay staff thousands of dollars to offset the costs of quarantine, adding to the burden of operating in one of the world’s most expensive cities.

“We understand that it doesn’t make a lot of business sense,” said Syed Asim Hussain, co-founder of Black Sheep Restaurants, which is shelling out about $650,000 to help employees with quarantine fees. “But we heard murmurs that the rules will stay in place for most of next year, and so we knew we had to act.”

The Hong Kong government has acknowledged the disruptions, but maintains that the regulations are essential from a public health standpoint and to allow the city to reopen to the mainland. China appears to have put those plans on hold because of the omicron variant.

Officials have tried to offer sweeteners in the interim. In an interview with local media, Eddie Yue, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the de facto central bank, said that it had put together a team to deliver “wine and gourmet food” to quarantined finance workers in hopes of making them “less angry with Hong Kong.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/27/covid-hong-kong-quarantine-omicron/?

Bubblecar said:

monkey skipper said:

Deadly fungus that preys on coronavirus patients
John Naish for the Daily Mail 9 hrs ago

Once a patient with severe suffocating Covid-19 is through the doors of a critical care unit, they should be in the safest place to receive life-saving help.

But a further danger may await — a fungus that experts warn is infecting the weakened lungs of one in three Covid patients in intensive care, and killing up to 70 per cent of those affected.

The fungus in question, Aspergillus fumigatus, is all around us — in the air, soil, food and in decaying organic material such as garden compost. It spreads via microscopic spores, although it can be visible as a grey, wrinkled cushion on damp walls. It has also been found in flower beds in hospital grounds.

Aspergillus fumigatus is an opportunistic fungus that preys on people whose immune systems are seriously weakened by illness.

When it invades humans, it causes a condition called aspergillosis, which primarily affects the lungs. There the fungus can grow into a lump up to the size of a tennis ball that can be extremely difficult to eradicate.

The infection can develop into invasive aspergillosis, where it spreads to the skin, brain, heart or kidneys.

Aspergillosis hit the news last month when the widow of a Scottish government official, who died after contracting Covid-19, called on the First Minister of Scotland to investigate the hospital where he was being treated.

Andrew Slorance, who led the Scottish government’s response and communications unit, died nearly six weeks after being admitted to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, last year. He had gone in for cancer treatment, but then contracted Covid-19.

The hospital listed the cause of Mr Slorance’s death as Covid pneumonia. However, his widow, Louise, requested a copy of his medical notes and discovered her husband had also become infected with Aspergillus fumigatus at the hospital.

She believes this may have brought on his death and claims the hospital ‘never mentioned’ the aspergillus infection to her at the time despite the ‘many mentions of it in the medical records’.

The hospital has denied any ‘attempt to conceal information’. It has not, however, answered Good Health’s questions concerning the role of aspergillosis in Mr Slorance’s death.

Experts who have spoken to Good Health say countless Covid patients admitted to critical care units with severe breathing difficulties have then become infected by aspergillus.

Estimates vary over the exact number of critical care patients afflicted. A research press release by investigators at Exeter University in March puts it as high as one in three. An international study in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases in October suggests one in six.

Why the disparity? According to one of Britain’s foremost experts, David Denning, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Manchester, much depends on how good clinicians are at diagnosing severe fungal infection and their awareness of it.

‘If you don’t look for it, you don’t find it,’ he told Good Health. ‘There are probably lots of patients who have died in critical care with this who were never diagnosed.’

The standard treatment is with anti-fungal drugs called azoles.

‘If they are given in good time, these can cure 75 per cent of patients with aspergillus,’ says Professor Denning.

However, aspergillus fungus is developing resistance to these.

This is due primarily to the overuse of azoles both in medicine and agriculture. This has encouraged more virulent strains of the fungus to evolve that are resistant to even high doses of azoles, says Professor Denning.

Azole anti-fungal sprays are used on ornamental plants to keep them looking healthy in greenhouses and on stored bulbs.

In 2019 Matthew Fisher, a professor of fungal disease epidemiology at Imperial College London, searched for drug-resistant aspergillus strains in flower beds outside hospitals, in parks and gardens across southern England, where tulip bulbs are often grown.

Of the eight most worrying London soil samples he found, four were from flower beds outside the Royal Free Hospital and The Whittington Hospital.

All the samples had Aspergillus fumigatus strains that had evolved to resist at least one of three commonly used azole drugs.

‘Drug resistance is something to be very worried about,’ says Professor Denning. ‘Around 13 per cent of aspergillus infections in some areas of London now involve resistant strains.’

Professor Denning says NHS critical care staff must become ‘much more aware and much more careful’ about the threat.

‘With sick people coming into intensive care units (ICU), particularly with Covid, we need to be thinking about aspergillus, taking routine samples. We need a whole new level of vigilance. It is bad enough to be in ICU, but to have a fungus as well, it’s not good.’

Professor Adilia Warris, the co-director of the Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology (the study of fungi), says specialists are trying to find precisely why aspergillus is potentially so lethal to Covid patients.

‘We don’t yet fully understand how the Covid virus interacts with the immune system and makes patients’ defences less able to fight the second hit of the fungal infection,’ she told Good Health.

‘I think coronavirus is damaging very sick patients’ lung structures and airways and doing something to patients’ immune defences. This makes them highly susceptible to acquiring aspergillus.’

One theory, suggested in the journal Microbial Ecology last month, is that both Covid-19 and Aspergillus fumigatus attack the same molecules inside our lungs. So when Covid has effectively breached those defences, aspergillus can come marching in.

‘If the aspergillus takes advantage of weakened patients and grows, then things get really messy,’ says Professor Warris. ‘Mortality rates are very high. Studies so far suggest that these infections can kill up to about 70 per cent of infected patients.’

But it is not only severe Covid that opens the way for aspergillus.

Up until very recently, invasive aspergillosis was seen only to afflict people whose defences were severely laid waste by, for example, chemotherapy, bone marrow transplantation or a disease of the immune system such as Aids.

But in 2019, evidence published in the journal Lancet Respiratory Medicine by Belgian and Dutch investigators revealed how aspergillus had evolved into a super-fungus that could afflict otherwise healthy people with heavy viral infections — particularly with flu.

‘We had not really seen this before,’ says Professor Warris. ‘It made us aware that we should be looking for such problems in people in ICU with severe lung infections.’

Professor Denning says the mortality rate among severe flu patients who contract aspergillus in the UK is around 85 per cent.

Yet aspergillus often goes undetected in intensive care units treating patients with Covid or flu, he says, because the diagnostic methods can be difficult and dangerous.

The main one, bronchoscopy, involves inserting a tube down the nose or mouth and into the airways to take lung samples.

‘This is especially tricky with an infectious virus, from which healthcare workers must protect themselves by taking strict precautions,’ Professor Denning explains. ‘Also, you are working with the lungs of someone who is already short of oxygen so you may cause them serious harm.’

Professor Warris adds: ‘Aspergillus is everywhere in the environment, so just finding some in a patient’s sputum does not mean that they have the disease. It is all very challenging.’

Dr Colin Brown, a consultant in infectious diseases at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) told Good Health that a study of 200 critical-care Covid patients who had aspergillus isolated from lung-fluid samples showed only a quarter actually had been infected by the fungus; the rest had simply breathed in fungal spores from the atmosphere that had not become a problem.

One hope for faster, easier and more accurate diagnosis is being developed by an international team of scientists that includes Professor Chris Thornton, a fungal immunologist at the University of Exeter.

The new technique, revealed in March in the journal Nature Communications, involves injecting a specially engineered antibody that will bind to aspergillosis molecules in the lungs of infected people.

The antibody is painted with a radioactive material that can be spotted on lung scans. Professor Thornton hails the advance as a ‘step-change in the way we diagnose this devastating disease’.

It is however, only a diagnosis. There is still the fact that the infection is highly invasive and difficult to treat. Yet another good reason, then, to get fully vaccinated against Covid-19 — and the flu.

Charming :/

It’s a problem with any intubated patient, risk is about 6% if tubed in icu regardless of disease that put you there.

Cheesus …

After a slowish start Australia has done a good job of catching up with other nations with regard to vaccinations. At 78%, about 13th in the world. This compares to UK on 71% or the USA on 62%.

About 15,000 new cases today, so far – That’s only for NSW & Victoria, the other states are yet to add their numbers.

:)

Sorry – :(

https://covidlive.com.au/states-and-territories

ABC News:

‘Queensland will scrap its requirement for interstate travellers from COVID-19 hotspots to produce a negative PCR test before arriving into the state, from January 1. ‘

OK, we give up. Come on in, don’t bother wiping your feet, cough on anything you like, we accept that we, too, must die for the sake of the NSW economy.

Spiny Norman said:

About 15,000 new cases today, so far – That’s only for NSW & Victoria, the other states are yet to add their numbers.

:)

wonderful progress, more covid by whatever name, call it something new, a new variant perhaps, but really nothing changed, the contagiousness was always the problem, and the answer, the answer was what, yes more of it

quite some genius about that

everyone learning to eat shit, sold to us by something like secondhand car salesman

The Swedes knew.
And the Turnips probably had a good idea as well.

Spiny Norman said:

About 15,000 new cases today, so far – That’s only for NSW & Victoria, the other states are yet to add their numbers.

:)

In NSW, this seems to be a perfect time to reduce the isolation period for positive cases from 10 days to 5 days.

Speaking on Tuesday, Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, said people with Covid should eventually be allowed to “go about their normal lives” as they would with a common cold.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/28/omicron-is-not-the-same-disease-as-earlier-covid-waves-says-uk-scientist

captain_spalding said:

ABC News:

‘Queensland will scrap its requirement for interstate travellers from COVID-19 hotspots to produce a negative PCR test before arriving into the state, from January 1. ‘

OK, we give up. Come on in, don’t bother wiping your feet, cough on anything you like, we accept that we, too, must die for the sake of the NSW economy.

I think it is time for concerned QLD citizens to take up their bayonets and build barricades.

party_pants said:

captain_spalding said:

ABC News:

‘Queensland will scrap its requirement for interstate travellers from COVID-19 hotspots to produce a negative PCR test before arriving into the state, from January 1. ‘

OK, we give up. Come on in, don’t bother wiping your feet, cough on anything you like, we accept that we, too, must die for the sake of the NSW economy.

I think it is time for concerned QLD citizens to take up their bayonets and build barricades.

I might well be angry enough to do that.

:::::>> Queensland recorded 1,589 new cases of COVID-19 today.

Michael V said:

party_pants said:

captain_spalding said:

ABC News:

‘Queensland will scrap its requirement for interstate travellers from COVID-19 hotspots to produce a negative PCR test before arriving into the state, from January 1. ‘

OK, we give up. Come on in, don’t bother wiping your feet, cough on anything you like, we accept that we, too, must die for the sake of the NSW economy.

I think it is time for concerned QLD citizens to take up their bayonets and build barricades.

I might well be angry enough to do that.

:::::>> Queensland recorded 1,589 new cases of COVID-19 today.

11K cases and Captain Dominic P is doing his best Baghdad Bob impersonation telling everyone it’s all going fine.

sibeen said:

Speaking on Tuesday, Paul Hunter, a professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, said people with Covid should eventually be allowed to “go about their normal lives” as they would with a common cold.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/28/omicron-is-not-the-same-disease-as-earlier-covid-waves-says-uk-scientist

until I see convincing numbers regard post-covid conditions, demonstrating it’s not a very significant problem, i’m calling a lot of what i’m reading and hearing conspiracy

don’t mind me forming and holding an opinion contrary the prejudices of the greater social organism

Tasmania reaches 300 active COVID cases after setting new daily record of 55 cases

and we got a nursing home…

An aged care home is in lockdown after a worker tested positive, as Tasmania posts a daily record of 55 new COVID-19 cases.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-29/covid-numbers-in-tasmania-reach-300-active-cases/100729512

sarahs mum said:

Tasmania reaches 300 active COVID cases after setting new daily record of 55 cases

and we got a nursing home…

An aged care home is in lockdown after a worker tested positive, as Tasmania posts a daily record of 55 new COVID-19 cases.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-29/covid-numbers-in-tasmania-reach-300-active-cases/100729512

FWIW I had been keeping an eye on the numbers and from what I saw, when each state got to about 40 – 50 new cases per day, that’s when the number of new infections really took off. That’s happened here in Queensland just over a week ago, so Spocky & I are now isolating at home. No-one can visit, everything gets delivered to us. The only time we’re going to leave the house is to get a booster shot.

Spiny Norman said:

sarahs mum said:

Tasmania reaches 300 active COVID cases after setting new daily record of 55 cases

and we got a nursing home…

An aged care home is in lockdown after a worker tested positive, as Tasmania posts a daily record of 55 new COVID-19 cases.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-29/covid-numbers-in-tasmania-reach-300-active-cases/100729512

FWIW I had been keeping an eye on the numbers and from what I saw, when each state got to about 40 – 50 new cases per day, that’s when the number of new infections really took off. That’s happened here in Queensland just over a week ago, so Spocky & I are now isolating at home. No-one can visit, everything gets delivered to us. The only time we’re going to leave the house is to get a booster shot.

probably gets away when the anticipation of and looking for asymptomatic infections (in addition symptomatic infections) gets relaxed, basically there’s the covid dispersion policy in action

the authorities cough still call them outbreaks, but that’s worse than a stretch of the concept applied, more a casual corruption that is unlikely to stay useful to just covid policy into the future

Spiny Norman said:

sarahs mum said:

Tasmania reaches 300 active COVID cases after setting new daily record of 55 cases

and we got a nursing home…

An aged care home is in lockdown after a worker tested positive, as Tasmania posts a daily record of 55 new COVID-19 cases.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-29/covid-numbers-in-tasmania-reach-300-active-cases/100729512

FWIW I had been keeping an eye on the numbers and from what I saw, when each state got to about 40 – 50 new cases per day, that’s when the number of new infections really took off. That’s happened here in Queensland just over a week ago, so Spocky & I are now isolating at home. No-one can visit, everything gets delivered to us. The only time we’re going to leave the house is to get a booster shot.

The idiocy of the people running the place seemingly has no bounds. I’m finding it extremely stressful.

Michael V said:

Spiny Norman said:

sarahs mum said:

Tasmania reaches 300 active COVID cases after setting new daily record of 55 cases

and we got a nursing home…

An aged care home is in lockdown after a worker tested positive, as Tasmania posts a daily record of 55 new COVID-19 cases.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-29/covid-numbers-in-tasmania-reach-300-active-cases/100729512

FWIW I had been keeping an eye on the numbers and from what I saw, when each state got to about 40 – 50 new cases per day, that’s when the number of new infections really took off. That’s happened here in Queensland just over a week ago, so Spocky & I are now isolating at home. No-one can visit, everything gets delivered to us. The only time we’re going to leave the house is to get a booster shot.

The idiocy of the people running the place seemingly has no bounds. I’m finding it extremely stressful.

It is indeed most worrying.

Spiny Norman said:

It is indeed most worrying.

But, there’s the up-side:

like after the Black Death in Europe, a lot of the labour force will be dead, or debilitated and unfit for work.

The difference now is that, instead of the remainder being able to demand better wages and conditions in return for their labour, business can ship in a whole lot of cheap labour from other countries, and thus keep the proles in their place.

Always a silver lining…

captain_spalding said:

Spiny Norman said:

It is indeed most worrying.

But, there’s the up-side:

like after the Black Death in Europe, a lot of the labour force will be dead, or debilitated and unfit for work.

The difference now is that, instead of the remainder being able to demand better wages and conditions in return for their labour, business can ship in a whole lot of cheap labour from other countries, and thus keep the proles in their place.

Always a silver lining…

Oh, fantastic. Just fantastic.

Michael V said:

captain_spalding said:

Spiny Norman said:

It is indeed most worrying.

But, there’s the up-side:

like after the Black Death in Europe, a lot of the labour force will be dead, or debilitated and unfit for work.

The difference now is that, instead of the remainder being able to demand better wages and conditions in return for their labour, business can ship in a whole lot of cheap labour from other countries, and thus keep the proles in their place.

Always a silver lining…

Oh, fantastic. Just fantastic.

Oh yeah, lovely.

FWIW I’ve been keeping (roughly) track of how the vaccinations are going here in Queensland. The chart shows the estimated number of days to reach that percentage of the population being vaccinated. This worries me as well.

Spiny Norman said:

sarahs mum said:

Tasmania reaches 300 active COVID cases after setting new daily record of 55 cases

and we got a nursing home…

An aged care home is in lockdown after a worker tested positive, as Tasmania posts a daily record of 55 new COVID-19 cases.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-29/covid-numbers-in-tasmania-reach-300-active-cases/100729512

FWIW I had been keeping an eye on the numbers and from what I saw, when each state got to about 40 – 50 new cases per day, that’s when the number of new infections really took off. That’s happened here in Queensland just over a week ago, so Spocky & I are now isolating at home. No-one can visit, everything gets delivered to us. The only time we’re going to leave the house is to get a booster shot.

I have dentistry next month and I need it.

I was given a ticket to Ginuary…a gin festival. don’t know how I feel about that.

party_pants said:

11K cases and Captain Dominic P is doing his best Baghdad Bob impersonation telling everyone it’s all going fine.

captain_spalding said:

The difference now is that, instead of the remainder being able to demand better wages and conditions in return for their labour, business can ship in a whole lot of cheap labour from other countries, and thus keep the proles in their place.

Not quite. The norma procedure is to set up factories in cheap labour countries and import the goods made from there.

party_pants said:

captain_spalding said:

The difference now is that, instead of the remainder being able to demand better wages and conditions in return for their labour, business can ship in a whole lot of cheap labour from other countries, and thus keep the proles in their place.

Not quite. The norma procedure is to set up factories in cheap labour countries and import the goods made from there.

Yeah but…the cheap labour countries have had huge death tolls too. Hugerer than here by a long shot.

buffy said:

party_pants said:

captain_spalding said:

The difference now is that, instead of the remainder being able to demand better wages and conditions in return for their labour, business can ship in a whole lot of cheap labour from other countries, and thus keep the proles in their place.

Not quite. The norma procedure is to set up factories in cheap labour countries and import the goods made from there.

Yeah but…the cheap labour countries have had huge death tolls too. Hugerer than here by a long shot.

The official figures don’t really support such a picture. They seem to suggest that “advanced” countries are doing just as poorly as developing nations, in raw numbers of cases and deaths. In terms of death per population the countries of central and eastern Europe seem to be doing worst.

party_pants said:

buffy said:

party_pants said:

Not quite. The norma procedure is to set up factories in cheap labour countries and import the goods made from there.

Yeah but…the cheap labour countries have had huge death tolls too. Hugerer than here by a long shot.

The official figures don’t really support such a picture. They seem to suggest that “advanced” countries are doing just as poorly as developing nations, in raw numbers of cases and deaths. In terms of death per population the countries of central and eastern Europe seem to be doing worst.

That reminds me…I haven’t stalked Sweden for a few days.

party_pants said:

buffy said:

party_pants said:

Not quite. The norma procedure is to set up factories in cheap labour countries and import the goods made from there.

Yeah but…the cheap labour countries have had huge death tolls too. Hugerer than here by a long shot.

The official figures don’t really support such a picture. They seem to suggest that “advanced” countries are doing just as poorly as developing nations, in raw numbers of cases and deaths. In terms of death per population the countries of central and eastern Europe seem to be doing worst.

But how accurate are the figures?

buffy said:

party_pants said:

buffy said:

Yeah but…the cheap labour countries have had huge death tolls too. Hugerer than here by a long shot.

The official figures don’t really support such a picture. They seem to suggest that “advanced” countries are doing just as poorly as developing nations, in raw numbers of cases and deaths. In terms of death per population the countries of central and eastern Europe seem to be doing worst.

That reminds me…I haven’t stalked Sweden for a few days.

Still dying at about 2 or 3 a day, and daily cases around 4 – 5,000 a day. Still sitting at number 57 on the deaths per million chart.

sibeen said:

party_pants said:

buffy said:

Yeah but…the cheap labour countries have had huge death tolls too. Hugerer than here by a long shot.

The official figures don’t really support such a picture. They seem to suggest that “advanced” countries are doing just as poorly as developing nations, in raw numbers of cases and deaths. In terms of death per population the countries of central and eastern Europe seem to be doing worst.

But how accurate are the figures?

Dunno. But they’re the best we’ve got to go by. Unless you want to go to Africa and personally count all the cases for me…?

party_pants said:

sibeen said:

party_pants said:

The official figures don’t really support such a picture. They seem to suggest that “advanced” countries are doing just as poorly as developing nations, in raw numbers of cases and deaths. In terms of death per population the countries of central and eastern Europe seem to be doing worst.

But how accurate are the figures?

Dunno. But they’re the best we’ve got to go by. Unless you want to go to Africa and personally count all the cases for me…?

I think it was deevs who pointed out that the actual deaths in somewhere like India could be up to 5x worse than reported.

party_pants said:

buffy said:

party_pants said:

Not quite. The norma procedure is to set up factories in cheap labour countries and import the goods made from there.

Yeah but…the cheap labour countries have had huge death tolls too. Hugerer than here by a long shot.

The official figures don’t really support such a picture. They seem to suggest that “advanced” countries are doing just as poorly as developing nations, in raw numbers of cases and deaths. In terms of death per population the countries of central and eastern Europe seem to be doing worst.

Developing Nations generally have younger populations affecting the deaths figures.

buffy said:

buffy said:

party_pants said:

The official figures don’t really support such a picture. They seem to suggest that “advanced” countries are doing just as poorly as developing nations, in raw numbers of cases and deaths. In terms of death per population the countries of central and eastern Europe seem to be doing worst.

That reminds me…I haven’t stalked Sweden for a few days.

Still dying at about 2 or 3 a day, and daily cases around 4 – 5,000 a day. Still sitting at number 57 on the deaths per million chart.

Last recorded new cases were over 6000, and rising rapidly and steadily.

So much like NSW the day before yesterday.

>>The difference now is that, instead of the remainder being able to demand better wages and conditions in return for their labour…….

splutter

WTF are we going to get locals to do the work? we cant get them to strike a blow now let alone in the future while Adam Bant has anything to do with youth employment.

Peak Warming Man said:

>>The difference now is that, instead of the remainder being able to demand better wages and conditions in return for their labour…….

splutter

WTF are we going to get locals to do the work? we cant get them to strike a blow now let alone in the future while Adam Bant has anything to do with youth employment.

Huh?

Adam Bandt? What has he got to do with it?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-29/thursday-island-covid-19-outbreak-more-cases-detected/100730560

Michael V said:

Peak Warming Man said:

>>The difference now is that, instead of the remainder being able to demand better wages and conditions in return for their labour…….

splutter

WTF are we going to get locals to do the work? we cant get them to strike a blow now let alone in the future while Adam Bant has anything to do with youth employment.

Huh?

Adam Bandt? What has he got to do with it?

Haven’t you heard?

Adam Bandt is the latest incarnation of Satan himself.

Any time there’s a problem’ these days, real or imagined, which annoys someone of a conservative frame of mind, the hand of Adam Bandt is seen to be at work somewhere in the events.

captain_spalding said:

Michael V said:

Peak Warming Man said:

>>The difference now is that, instead of the remainder being able to demand better wages and conditions in return for their labour…….

splutter

WTF are we going to get locals to do the work? we cant get them to strike a blow now let alone in the future while Adam Bant has anything to do with youth employment.

Huh?

Adam Bandt? What has he got to do with it?

Haven’t you heard?

Adam Bandt is the latest incarnation of Satan himself.

Any time there’s a problem’ these days, real or imagined, which annoys someone of a conservative frame of mind, the hand of Adam Bandt is seen to be at work somewhere in the events.

captain_spalding said:

Michael V said:

Peak Warming Man said:

>>The difference now is that, instead of the remainder being able to demand better wages and conditions in return for their labour…….

splutter

WTF are we going to get locals to do the work? we cant get them to strike a blow now let alone in the future while Adam Bant has anything to do with youth employment.

Huh?

Adam Bandt? What has he got to do with it?

Haven’t you heard?

Adam Bandt is the latest incarnation of Satan himself.

Any time there’s a problem’ these days, real or imagined, which annoys someone of a conservative frame of mind, the hand of Adam Bandt is seen to be at work somewhere in the events.

Conservative is a funny political term, seems nice but isn’t

captain_spalding said:

Michael V said:

Peak Warming Man said:

>>The difference now is that, instead of the remainder being able to demand better wages and conditions in return for their labour…….

splutter

WTF are we going to get locals to do the work? we cant get them to strike a blow now let alone in the future while Adam Bant has anything to do with youth employment.

Huh?

Adam Bandt? What has he got to do with it?

Haven’t you heard?

Adam Bandt is the latest incarnation of Satan himself.

Any time there’s a problem’ these days, real or imagined, which annoys someone of a conservative frame of mind, the hand of Adam Bandt is seen to be at work somewhere in the events.

No, I hadn’t heard. My bad.

JudgeMental said:

captain_spalding said:

Michael V said:

Huh?

Adam Bandt? What has he got to do with it?

Haven’t you heard?

Adam Bandt is the latest incarnation of Satan himself.

Any time there’s a problem’ these days, real or imagined, which annoys someone of a conservative frame of mind, the hand of Adam Bandt is seen to be at work somewhere in the events.

Yep.

Michael V said:

No, I hadn’t heard. My bad.

That’s why you never see Adam with his shoes off.

Cloven hooves.

captain_spalding said:

Michael V said:

No, I hadn’t heard. My bad.

That’s why you never see Adam with his shoes off.

Cloven hooves.

LOLOLOLOL

Michael V said:

captain_spalding said:

Michael V said:

No, I hadn’t heard. My bad.

That’s why you never see Adam with his shoes off.

Cloven hooves.

LOLOLOLOL

Gods got a higher body count

The United Kingdom reports a record 138,831 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. (The Guardian)

At what point would you give up testing people, that’s a huge number let alone how many people were processed.
Massive effort with no hope of control I imagine

Cymek said:

The United Kingdom reports a record 138,831 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. (The Guardian)

At what point would you give up testing people, that’s a huge number let alone how many people were processed.
Massive effort with no hope of control I imagine

The United States reports a record 512,553 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours. (Deadline)

Even worse

Cymek said:

Cymek said:

The United Kingdom reports a record 138,831 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. (The Guardian)

At what point would you give up testing people, that’s a huge number let alone how many people were processed.
Massive effort with no hope of control I imagine

The United States reports a record 512,553 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours. (Deadline)

Even worse

France had 180k new cases, which per head puts them well ahead of both.

Sorry I should have realised that this news would not be in news feed of the punters here.

“Greens leader is slammed for saying he would be ‘proud’ if teenagers took two years off to smoke weed in a bizarre tweet congratulating school leavers”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10322935/Adam-Bandt-slammed-Greens-leader-makes-weed-tweet-congratulating-Year-12-students.html

Peak Warming Man said:

Sorry I should have realised that this news would not be in news feed of the punters here.

“Greens leader is slammed for saying he would be ‘proud’ if teenagers took two years off to smoke weed in a bizarre tweet congratulating school leavers”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10322935/Adam-Bandt-slammed-Greens-leader-makes-weed-tweet-congratulating-Year-12-students.html

I’m sorry. My bad. I don’t normally read dailymail.co.uk.

Peak Warming Man said:

Sorry I should have realised that this news would not be in news feed of the punters here.

“Greens leader is slammed for saying he would be ‘proud’ if teenagers took two years off to smoke weed in a bizarre tweet congratulating school leavers”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10322935/Adam-Bandt-slammed-Greens-leader-makes-weed-tweet-congratulating-Year-12-students.html

Thanks for the info. Srange as it is.

Michael V said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Sorry I should have realised that this news would not be in news feed of the punters here.

“Greens leader is slammed for saying he would be ‘proud’ if teenagers took two years off to smoke weed in a bizarre tweet congratulating school leavers”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10322935/Adam-Bandt-slammed-Greens-leader-makes-weed-tweet-congratulating-Year-12-students.html

I’m sorry. My bad. I don’t normally read dailymail.co.uk.

+1

JudgeMental said:

To me, that seems like quite a nice thing to say.

Why would anybody object to it?

JudgeMental said:

very non-JudgeMental.

Michael V said:

JudgeMental said:

To me, that seems like quite a nice thing to say.

Why would anybody object to it?

because DRUGS, man. fuck being supportive of differing life choices.

Peak Warming Man said:

Sorry I should have realised that this news would not be in news feed of the punters here.

“Greens leader is slammed for saying he would be ‘proud’ if teenagers took two years off to smoke weed in a bizarre tweet congratulating school leavers”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10322935/Adam-Bandt-slammed-Greens-leader-makes-weed-tweet-congratulating-Year-12-students.html

that’s twisted it round.

He said he was proud of those kids for getting through the year no matter what they did next. And it’s only the ones who want to be miner’s that probably won’t indulge.

sarahs mum said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Sorry I should have realised that this news would not be in news feed of the punters here.

“Greens leader is slammed for saying he would be ‘proud’ if teenagers took two years off to smoke weed in a bizarre tweet congratulating school leavers”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10322935/Adam-Bandt-slammed-Greens-leader-makes-weed-tweet-congratulating-Year-12-students.html

that’s twisted it round.

He said he was proud of those kids for getting through the year no matter what they did next. And it’s only the ones who want to be miner’s that probably won’t indulge.

Law students will probably go for more expensive drugs.

Back when I was at uni the law students used our the fine art’s auditorium once a week. The car park that was normally full of quiant old cars and utes got filled with late model BMWs. The canteen was noisy as they shouted their importance over one another.

sarahs mum said:

sarahs mum said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Sorry I should have realised that this news would not be in news feed of the punters here.

“Greens leader is slammed for saying he would be ‘proud’ if teenagers took two years off to smoke weed in a bizarre tweet congratulating school leavers”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10322935/Adam-Bandt-slammed-Greens-leader-makes-weed-tweet-congratulating-Year-12-students.html

that’s twisted it round.

He said he was proud of those kids for getting through the year no matter what they did next. And it’s only the ones who want to be miner’s that probably won’t indulge.

Law students will probably go for more expensive drugs.

Back when I was at uni the law students used our the fine art’s auditorium once a week. The car park that was normally full of quiant old cars and utes got filled with late model BMWs. The canteen was noisy as they shouted their importance over one another.

In this day and age, they’ve probably had MDMA anyway.

sarahs mum said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Sorry I should have realised that this news would not be in news feed of the punters here.

“Greens leader is slammed for saying he would be ‘proud’ if teenagers took two years off to smoke weed in a bizarre tweet congratulating school leavers”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10322935/Adam-Bandt-slammed-Greens-leader-makes-weed-tweet-congratulating-Year-12-students.html

that’s twisted it round.

He said he was proud of those kids for getting through the year no matter what they did next. And it’s only the ones who want to be miner’s that probably won’t indulge.

God help us we’re all held to literal interpretations regard everything said, be a weird fundamentalism that, people might gravitate toward the impression their ideas about the world are the world

I might chuck in while, that weed, smoking it regularly causes brain damage, but it probably hasn’t caused as much as alcohol

not sure what they do days-end at the daily mail, whatever shithole country it comes from

transition said:

sarahs mum said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Sorry I should have realised that this news would not be in news feed of the punters here.

“Greens leader is slammed for saying he would be ‘proud’ if teenagers took two years off to smoke weed in a bizarre tweet congratulating school leavers”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10322935/Adam-Bandt-slammed-Greens-leader-makes-weed-tweet-congratulating-Year-12-students.html

that’s twisted it round.

He said he was proud of those kids for getting through the year no matter what they did next. And it’s only the ones who want to be miner’s that probably won’t indulge.

God help us we’re all held to literal interpretations regard everything said, be a weird fundamentalism that, people might gravitate toward the impression their ideas about the world are the world

I might chuck in while, that weed, smoking it regularly causes brain damage, but it probably hasn’t caused as much as alcohol

not sure what they do days-end at the daily mail, whatever shithole country it comes from

The kids would largely already have been damaged by alcohol by the time they reach year 12.

roughbarked said:

transition said:

sarahs mum said:

that’s twisted it round.

He said he was proud of those kids for getting through the year no matter what they did next. And it’s only the ones who want to be miner’s that probably won’t indulge.

God help us we’re all held to literal interpretations regard everything said, be a weird fundamentalism that, people might gravitate toward the impression their ideas about the world are the world

I might chuck in while, that weed, smoking it regularly causes brain damage, but it probably hasn’t caused as much as alcohol

not sure what they do days-end at the daily mail, whatever shithole country it comes from

The kids would largely already have been damaged by alcohol by the time they reach year 12.

https://theconversation.com/why-are-young-people-drinking-less-than-their-parents-generation-did-172225

JudgeMental said:

roughbarked said:

transition said:

God help us we’re all held to literal interpretations regard everything said, be a weird fundamentalism that, people might gravitate toward the impression their ideas about the world are the world

I might chuck in while, that weed, smoking it regularly causes brain damage, but it probably hasn’t caused as much as alcohol

not sure what they do days-end at the daily mail, whatever shithole country it comes from

The kids would largely already have been damaged by alcohol by the time they reach year 12.

https://theconversation.com/why-are-young-people-drinking-less-than-their-parents-generation-did-172225

https://www.latrobe.edu.au/nest/generation-dry-why-young-people-are-drinking-less/

transition said:

sarahs mum said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Sorry I should have realised that this news would not be in news feed of the punters here.

“Greens leader is slammed for saying he would be ‘proud’ if teenagers took two years off to smoke weed in a bizarre tweet congratulating school leavers”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10322935/Adam-Bandt-slammed-Greens-leader-makes-weed-tweet-congratulating-Year-12-students.html

that’s twisted it round.

He said he was proud of those kids for getting through the year no matter what they did next. And it’s only the ones who want to be miner’s that probably won’t indulge.

God help us we’re all held to literal interpretations regard everything said, be a weird fundamentalism that, people might gravitate toward the impression their ideas about the world are the world

I might chuck in while, that weed, smoking it regularly causes brain damage, but it probably hasn’t caused as much as alcohol

not sure what they do days-end at the daily mail, whatever shithole country it comes from

the daily mail is a rightwing newspaper. much like the murdoch newspapers in this shithole country.

JudgeMental said:

JudgeMental said:

roughbarked said:

The kids would largely already have been damaged by alcohol by the time they reach year 12.

https://theconversation.com/why-are-young-people-drinking-less-than-their-parents-generation-did-172225

https://www.latrobe.edu.au/nest/generation-dry-why-young-people-are-drinking-less/

doesn’t take much alcohol to make some neuro-adjustments to the fetus one is carrying, to give the little creature special gifts

you, if you were unborn, you could get some ADHD, all sorts of wonderful enhancement possibilities

forgive me, i’ve made reference to neural structures, I could be the fucken antichrist

transition said:

JudgeMental said:

JudgeMental said:

https://theconversation.com/why-are-young-people-drinking-less-than-their-parents-generation-did-172225

https://www.latrobe.edu.au/nest/generation-dry-why-young-people-are-drinking-less/

doesn’t take much alcohol to make some neuro-adjustments to the fetus one is carrying, to give the little creature special gifts

you, if you were unborn, you could get some ADHD, all sorts of wonderful enhancement possibilities

forgive me, i’ve made reference to neural structures, I could be the fucken antichrist

:)

transition said:

JudgeMental said:

JudgeMental said:

https://theconversation.com/why-are-young-people-drinking-less-than-their-parents-generation-did-172225

https://www.latrobe.edu.au/nest/generation-dry-why-young-people-are-drinking-less/

doesn’t take much alcohol to make some neuro-adjustments to the fetus one is carrying, to give the little creature special gifts

you, if you were unborn, you could get some ADHD, all sorts of wonderful enhancement possibilities

forgive me, i’ve made reference to neural structures, I could be the fucken antichrist

and that can hardly be blamed on the current generation which this discussion was about. the current generation appears to be drinking less than our, and ones before, generation. surely that is to be celebrated without implying that they may be brain damaged already.

JudgeMental said:

transition said:

JudgeMental said:

https://www.latrobe.edu.au/nest/generation-dry-why-young-people-are-drinking-less/

doesn’t take much alcohol to make some neuro-adjustments to the fetus one is carrying, to give the little creature special gifts

you, if you were unborn, you could get some ADHD, all sorts of wonderful enhancement possibilities

forgive me, i’ve made reference to neural structures, I could be the fucken antichrist

and that can hardly be blamed on the current generation which this discussion was about. the current generation appears to be drinking less than our, and ones before, generation. surely that is to be celebrated without implying that they may be brain damaged already.

Who was/is apporuioning blame? Is the question here.

JudgeMental said:

transition said:

JudgeMental said:

https://www.latrobe.edu.au/nest/generation-dry-why-young-people-are-drinking-less/

doesn’t take much alcohol to make some neuro-adjustments to the fetus one is carrying, to give the little creature special gifts

you, if you were unborn, you could get some ADHD, all sorts of wonderful enhancement possibilities

forgive me, i’ve made reference to neural structures, I could be the fucken antichrist

and that can hardly be blamed on the current generation which this discussion was about. the current generation appears to be drinking less than our, and ones before, generation. surely that is to be celebrated without implying that they may be brain damaged already.

I was pointing to not just unpregnant drinkers, mostly, but secondly I was hinting at what a wonderful enhancement alcohol has been to the blank slate, yeah probably a bit cryptic, but obviousness gets a bit tedious you know

roughbarked said:

JudgeMental said:

transition said:

doesn’t take much alcohol to make some neuro-adjustments to the fetus one is carrying, to give the little creature special gifts

you, if you were unborn, you could get some ADHD, all sorts of wonderful enhancement possibilities

forgive me, i’ve made reference to neural structures, I could be the fucken antichrist

and that can hardly be blamed on the current generation which this discussion was about. the current generation appears to be drinking less than our, and ones before, generation. surely that is to be celebrated without implying that they may be brain damaged already.

Who was/is apporuioning blame? Is the question here.

hmm apportioning was what I tried to type. Can’t wait until my hands start working properly again.

transition said:

JudgeMental said:

transition said:

doesn’t take much alcohol to make some neuro-adjustments to the fetus one is carrying, to give the little creature special gifts

you, if you were unborn, you could get some ADHD, all sorts of wonderful enhancement possibilities

forgive me, i’ve made reference to neural structures, I could be the fucken antichrist

and that can hardly be blamed on the current generation which this discussion was about. the current generation appears to be drinking less than our, and ones before, generation. surely that is to be celebrated without implying that they may be brain damaged already.

I was pointing to not just unpregnant drinkers, mostly, but secondly I was hinting at what a wonderful enhancement alcohol has been to the blank slate, yeah probably a bit cryptic, but obviousness gets a bit tedious you know

yeah cos as long as you’re good at art despite having foetal alcohol brain damage that is OK.

JudgeMental said:

transition said:

JudgeMental said:

and that can hardly be blamed on the current generation which this discussion was about. the current generation appears to be drinking less than our, and ones before, generation. surely that is to be celebrated without implying that they may be brain damaged already.

I was pointing to not just unpregnant drinkers, mostly, but secondly I was hinting at what a wonderful enhancement alcohol has been to the blank slate, yeah probably a bit cryptic, but obviousness gets a bit tedious you know

yeah cos as long as you’re good at art despite having foetal alcohol brain damage that is OK.

I was told I was disrespectful for telling someone that but it was OK they were talking about men all being kiddy fiddlers and other rude/crude things

Spiny Norman said:

sarahs mum said:

Tasmania reaches 300 active COVID cases after setting new daily record of 55 cases

and we got a nursing home…

An aged care home is in lockdown after a worker tested positive, as Tasmania posts a daily record of 55 new COVID-19 cases.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-29/covid-numbers-in-tasmania-reach-300-active-cases/100729512

FWIW I had been keeping an eye on the numbers and from what I saw, when each state got to about 40 – 50 new cases per day, that’s when the number of new infections really took off. That’s happened here in Queensland just over a week ago, so Spocky & I are now isolating at home. No-one can visit, everything gets delivered to us. The only time we’re going to leave the house is to get a booster shot.

Not so great.

I can’t help noticing that I haven’t heard any mention of what percentage of the new cases are people who have been vaccinated.

Since hitting the headlines in November, the Omicron COVID-19 variant has damaged economies, destroyed holidays and blighted the festive season, but scientists say there may be a silver lining to the fast-moving version of the virus.
Research conducted in a laboratory in South Africa suggests Omicron may protect the people it infects against the more-severe Delta variant.

If shown to be true, that could mean Omicron will have the ability to displace Delta.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-29/covid-19-omicron-variant-may-protect-against-delta/100730746

roughbarked said:

Since hitting the headlines in November, the Omicron COVID-19 variant has damaged economies, destroyed holidays and blighted the festive season, but scientists say there may be a silver lining to the fast-moving version of the virus.
Research conducted in a laboratory in South Africa suggests Omicron may protect the people it infects against the more-severe Delta variant.

If shown to be true, that could mean Omicron will have the ability to displace Delta.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-29/covid-19-omicron-variant-may-protect-against-delta/100730746

It’s already displaced delta in Australia, Britain, South Africa, India. That’s not necessarily a good thing.

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

Since hitting the headlines in November, the Omicron COVID-19 variant has damaged economies, destroyed holidays and blighted the festive season, but scientists say there may be a silver lining to the fast-moving version of the virus.
Research conducted in a laboratory in South Africa suggests Omicron may protect the people it infects against the more-severe Delta variant.

If shown to be true, that could mean Omicron will have the ability to displace Delta.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-29/covid-19-omicron-variant-may-protect-against-delta/100730746

It’s already displaced delta in Australia, Britain, South Africa, India. That’s not necessarily a good thing.

Not if the vaccines don’t work.

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

Since hitting the headlines in November, the Omicron COVID-19 variant has damaged economies, destroyed holidays and blighted the festive season, but scientists say there may be a silver lining to the fast-moving version of the virus.
Research conducted in a laboratory in South Africa suggests Omicron may protect the people it infects against the more-severe Delta variant.

If shown to be true, that could mean Omicron will have the ability to displace Delta.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-29/covid-19-omicron-variant-may-protect-against-delta/100730746

It’s already displaced delta in Australia, Britain, South Africa, India. That’s not necessarily a good thing.

Another worry is people get complacent its less deadly and then another deadlier strain emerges and everyone has stopped protective behaviours

Cymek said:

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

Since hitting the headlines in November, the Omicron COVID-19 variant has damaged economies, destroyed holidays and blighted the festive season, but scientists say there may be a silver lining to the fast-moving version of the virus.
Research conducted in a laboratory in South Africa suggests Omicron may protect the people it infects against the more-severe Delta variant.

If shown to be true, that could mean Omicron will have the ability to displace Delta.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-29/covid-19-omicron-variant-may-protect-against-delta/100730746

It’s already displaced delta in Australia, Britain, South Africa, India. That’s not necessarily a good thing.

Another worry is people get complacent its less deadly and then another deadlier strain emerges and everyone has stopped protective behaviours

Already happening. A local invited people from several cities and states to a local Christmas party. Over 200 people. There were 10 new cases immediately including the person who held the party. Apparently he is very ill.

roughbarked said:

Since hitting the headlines in November, the Omicron COVID-19 variant has damaged economies, destroyed holidays and blighted the festive season, but scientists say there may be a silver lining to the fast-moving version of the virus.
Research conducted in a laboratory in South Africa suggests Omicron may protect the people it infects against the more-severe Delta variant.

If shown to be true, that could mean Omicron will have the ability to displace Delta.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-29/covid-19-omicron-variant-may-protect-against-delta/100730746

propaganda, the word keeps coming to mind, not sure why

the primary trouble has remained a constant, the contagiousness is the problem

roughbarked said:

Research conducted in a laboratory in South Africa suggests Omicron may protect the people it infects against the more-severe Delta variant.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-29/covid-19-omicron-variant-may-protect-against-delta/100730746

you mean like vaccination but with all the risks of disease then nice one

some funny guy said:

The good thing about watching NSW is you can learn what not to do

You operate on the basis don’t do what NSW does

https://twitter.com/lubiephil/status/1476053790180610048

thought we’d just pop in and remind you of this hilarious

Laugh The Fuck Out Loud

but wait until mid-February and see

anyway hope you’ve all had an entertaining time without SCIENCE to think about

see you all next week if we’re still cognitively intact

SCIENCE said:

roughbarked said:

Research conducted in a laboratory in South Africa suggests Omicron may protect the people it infects against the more-severe Delta variant.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-29/covid-19-omicron-variant-may-protect-against-delta/100730746

you mean like vaccination but with all the risks of disease then nice one

Risks of a disease which is less likely to land people in hospital. I say if it boosts immunity, especially for those who are vaccine-hesitant, it’s better than continuing to try to ‘control’ the previous versions. Covid Mark 1 is now unheard of, with Delta being the dominant strain until recently.

SCIENCE said:

roughbarked said:

Research conducted in a laboratory in South Africa suggests Omicron may protect the people it infects against the more-severe Delta variant.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-29/covid-19-omicron-variant-may-protect-against-delta/100730746

you mean like vaccination but with all the risks of disease then nice one

a variant of the virus that is more contagious but less virulent and also provides an antibody response to more virulent variants, is actually a really, really good thing for the global population.. especially given that a significant proportion of the people in the world will not receive vaccinations.

diddly-squat said:

SCIENCE said:

roughbarked said:

Research conducted in a laboratory in South Africa suggests Omicron may protect the people it infects against the more-severe Delta variant.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-29/covid-19-omicron-variant-may-protect-against-delta/100730746

you mean like vaccination but with all the risks of disease then nice one

a variant of the virus that is more contagious but less virulent and also provides an antibody response to more virulent variants, is actually a really, really good thing for the global population.. especially given that a significant proportion of the people in the world will not receive vaccinations.

how do you define virulence

I see the word used a lot lately, a reader might assume they know what it means and of what range of covid injuries it might be applied

transition said:

diddly-squat said:

SCIENCE said:

you mean like vaccination but with all the risks of disease then nice one

a variant of the virus that is more contagious but less virulent and also provides an antibody response to more virulent variants, is actually a really, really good thing for the global population.. especially given that a significant proportion of the people in the world will not receive vaccinations.

how do you define virulence

I see the word used a lot lately, a reader might assume they know what it means and of what range of covid injuries it might be applied

you’ve fairly much trotted out the core propaganda used for promoting the policies toward acceptance of endemic covid

WHO warns of Omicron ‘tsunami’, France records more than 200,000 cases in one day.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-30/france-records-highest-daily-covid-cases/100730948

roughbarked said:

WHO warns of Omicron ‘tsunami’, France records more than 200,000 cases in one day.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-30/france-records-highest-daily-covid-cases/100730948

And despite the case numbers, the deaths are still well and truly lagging.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/france/

transition said:

No.

And for whoever it was wanted a definition of virulence:

Virulence

Virulence is defined as the degree of pathogenicity of a pathogen (bacteria, fungi, or viruses) and is determined by its ability to invade and multiply within the host.

From: Brenner’s Encyclopedia of Genetics (Second Edition), 2013

But I took that from ScienceDirect. This is the most applicable piece:

Viral Pathogenesis

Susan Payne, in Viruses, 2017
Virulence

Virulence is the relative ability of an infectious agent to cause disease. Thus virulent viruses have a greater propensity to cause disease (to be pathogens) in a greater proportion of infected hosts. Virulence determinants or factors are those genes and proteins that play key roles in disease development. Virulence determinants can range from surface/capsid proteins that determine cell/tissue tropism to small adapter proteins that alter cell-signaling cascades. Differences in virulence may even be determined by cis-acting viral sequences that control the relative abundance of specific viral transcripts and their protein products. In the case of RNA viruses, the degree of fidelity of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase can be a virulence determinant, as described in Chapter 10, Introduction to RNA Viruses.

Virulence of a virus also depends upon genetics, age, and overall health of the host. And it would not be surprising to find that the microbiome (the mixture of commensal bacteria and viruses in the host) can have an impact on virulence. In experimental situations, the route of inoculation or dose administered can have a major effect on virulence. Thus the study of virulence determinants requires an understanding of the complex interactions between virus and host (and perhaps environment).

Understanding the virulence determinants of a virus brings us full circle back to pathogenesis: The process by which a virus infects certain tissues, inhibits or induces various immune responses, or alters basic cellular processes. Thus the study of viral pathogenesis requires an understanding of virus molecular biology, host cell biology, and immune responses.

Why is it important to study pathogenesis? An obvious answer is that understanding pathogenesis is important for treatment. It allows the clinician to move past the empirical toward more directed treatments. It also provides a blueprint for understanding the likely course of an infection and may also provide a basis for administering supportive therapies that do not directly target the virus.

REF: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-microbiology/virulence

buffy said:

And for whoever it was wanted a definition of virulence:

Virulence

Virulence is defined as the degree of pathogenicity of a pathogen (bacteria, fungi, or viruses) and is determined by its ability to invade and multiply within the host.

From: Brenner’s Encyclopedia of Genetics (Second Edition), 2013

But I took that from ScienceDirect. This is the most applicable piece:

Viral Pathogenesis

Susan Payne, in Viruses, 2017
Virulence

Virulence is the relative ability of an infectious agent to cause disease. Thus virulent viruses have a greater propensity to cause disease (to be pathogens) in a greater proportion of infected hosts. Virulence determinants or factors are those genes and proteins that play key roles in disease development. Virulence determinants can range from surface/capsid proteins that determine cell/tissue tropism to small adapter proteins that alter cell-signaling cascades. Differences in virulence may even be determined by cis-acting viral sequences that control the relative abundance of specific viral transcripts and their protein products. In the case of RNA viruses, the degree of fidelity of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase can be a virulence determinant, as described in Chapter 10, Introduction to RNA Viruses.

Virulence of a virus also depends upon genetics, age, and overall health of the host. And it would not be surprising to find that the microbiome (the mixture of commensal bacteria and viruses in the host) can have an impact on virulence. In experimental situations, the route of inoculation or dose administered can have a major effect on virulence. Thus the study of virulence determinants requires an understanding of the complex interactions between virus and host (and perhaps environment).

Understanding the virulence determinants of a virus brings us full circle back to pathogenesis: The process by which a virus infects certain tissues, inhibits or induces various immune responses, or alters basic cellular processes. Thus the study of viral pathogenesis requires an understanding of virus molecular biology, host cell biology, and immune responses.

Why is it important to study pathogenesis? An obvious answer is that understanding pathogenesis is important for treatment. It allows the clinician to move past the empirical toward more directed treatments. It also provides a blueprint for understanding the likely course of an infection and may also provide a basis for administering supportive therapies that do not directly target the virus.

REF: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-microbiology/virulence

got a definition of your own, anything at all from your own experience, that you might put into your own words, or you just happy borrowing the lot

surely that’s not the definition you apply notionally of, applied the practical aspects of your life

NSW records 12,226 COVID-19 cases and one death

Victoria records 5,137 COVID-19 cases, 13 deaths and 395 hospitalisations

transition said:

buffy said:

And for whoever it was wanted a definition of virulence:

Virulence

Virulence is defined as the degree of pathogenicity of a pathogen (bacteria, fungi, or viruses) and is determined by its ability to invade and multiply within the host.

From: Brenner’s Encyclopedia of Genetics (Second Edition), 2013

But I took that from ScienceDirect. This is the most applicable piece:

Viral Pathogenesis

Susan Payne, in Viruses, 2017
Virulence

Virulence is the relative ability of an infectious agent to cause disease. Thus virulent viruses have a greater propensity to cause disease (to be pathogens) in a greater proportion of infected hosts. Virulence determinants or factors are those genes and proteins that play key roles in disease development. Virulence determinants can range from surface/capsid proteins that determine cell/tissue tropism to small adapter proteins that alter cell-signaling cascades. Differences in virulence may even be determined by cis-acting viral sequences that control the relative abundance of specific viral transcripts and their protein products. In the case of RNA viruses, the degree of fidelity of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase can be a virulence determinant, as described in Chapter 10, Introduction to RNA Viruses.

Virulence of a virus also depends upon genetics, age, and overall health of the host. And it would not be surprising to find that the microbiome (the mixture of commensal bacteria and viruses in the host) can have an impact on virulence. In experimental situations, the route of inoculation or dose administered can have a major effect on virulence. Thus the study of virulence determinants requires an understanding of the complex interactions between virus and host (and perhaps environment).

Understanding the virulence determinants of a virus brings us full circle back to pathogenesis: The process by which a virus infects certain tissues, inhibits or induces various immune responses, or alters basic cellular processes. Thus the study of viral pathogenesis requires an understanding of virus molecular biology, host cell biology, and immune responses.

Why is it important to study pathogenesis? An obvious answer is that understanding pathogenesis is important for treatment. It allows the clinician to move past the empirical toward more directed treatments. It also provides a blueprint for understanding the likely course of an infection and may also provide a basis for administering supportive therapies that do not directly target the virus.

REF: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-microbiology/virulence

got a definition of your own, anything at all from your own experience, that you might put into your own words, or you just happy borrowing the lot

surely that’s not the definition you apply notionally of, applied the practical aspects of your life

Um…in medical matters you don’t make up your own definitions.

roughbarked said:

NSW records 12,226 COVID-19 cases and one death

Looks like the no-vax-for-me mob will acquire some kind of immunity by one means or another, regardless of their ‘choice’.

captain_spalding said:

roughbarked said:

NSW records 12,226 COVID-19 cases and one death

Looks like the no-vax-for-me mob will acquire some kind of immunity by one means or another, regardless of their ‘choice’.

But natural immunity from COVID doesn’t last. Spocky & I have been reading reports of people getting infected three and sometimes four times.

Spiny Norman said:

captain_spalding said:

roughbarked said:

NSW records 12,226 COVID-19 cases and one death

Looks like the no-vax-for-me mob will acquire some kind of immunity by one means or another, regardless of their ‘choice’.

But natural immunity from COVID doesn’t last. Spocky & I have been reading reports of people getting infected three and sometimes four times.

Yes. This is a snake that can envenomate more than the once.

roughbarked said:

Spiny Norman said:

captain_spalding said:

Looks like the no-vax-for-me mob will acquire some kind of immunity by one means or another, regardless of their ‘choice’.

But natural immunity from COVID doesn’t last. Spocky & I have been reading reports of people getting infected three and sometimes four times.

Yes. This is a snake that can envenomate more than the once.

Summary

What is already known about this topic?

Previous infection with SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 vaccination can provide immunity and protection against subsequent SARS-CoV-2 infection and illness.

What is added by this report?

Among COVID-19–like illness hospitalizations among adults aged ≥18 years whose previous infection or vaccination occurred 90–179 days earlier, the adjusted odds of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 among unvaccinated adults with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection were 5.49-fold higher than the odds among fully vaccinated recipients of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine who had no previous documented infection (95% confidence interval = 2.75–10.99).

What are the implications for public health practice?

All eligible persons should be vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible, including unvaccinated persons previously infected with SARS-CoV-2.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7044e1.htm

fsm said:

roughbarked said:

Spiny Norman said:

But natural immunity from COVID doesn’t last. Spocky & I have been reading reports of people getting infected three and sometimes four times.

Yes. This is a snake that can envenomate more than the once.

Summary

What is already known about this topic?

Previous infection with SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 vaccination can provide immunity and protection against subsequent SARS-CoV-2 infection and illness.

What is added by this report?

Among COVID-19–like illness hospitalizations among adults aged ≥18 years whose previous infection or vaccination occurred 90–179 days earlier, the adjusted odds of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 among unvaccinated adults with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection were 5.49-fold higher than the odds among fully vaccinated recipients of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine who had no previous documented infection (95% confidence interval = 2.75–10.99).

What are the implications for public health practice?

All eligible persons should be vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible, including unvaccinated persons previously infected with SARS-CoV-2.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7044e1.htm

My family have all had the requisite vaccinations allowable.

roughbarked said:

Spiny Norman said:

captain_spalding said:

Looks like the no-vax-for-me mob will acquire some kind of immunity by one means or another, regardless of their ‘choice’.

But natural immunity from COVID doesn’t last. Spocky & I have been reading reports of people getting infected three and sometimes four times.

Yes. This is a snake that can envenomate more than the once.

Natures way of saying ‘grow up, you dill, and get a bloody vaccine!’.

captain_spalding said:

roughbarked said:

Spiny Norman said:

But natural immunity from COVID doesn’t last. Spocky & I have been reading reports of people getting infected three and sometimes four times.

Yes. This is a snake that can envenomate more than the once.

Natures way of saying ‘grow up, you dill, and get a bloody vaccine!’.

If there are any unvaccinated lurkers reading this… please go and get the jab.

Amid chronic staffing shortages, 10 Central Australian clinics are closed over the holiday period.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-30/nt-regs-pub-thur-remote-clinic-closures/100729586

There is heaps of detailed information at “Up to date” and the papers are referenced so you can go and read the published research if you wish. This is the bit on immune response to infection. You can also find and read the stuff on immune response to vaccination on the same page.

————————————————————————————————————————————

Immune responses following infection — Protective SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies and cell-mediated responses are induced following infection. Evidence suggests that some of these responses can be detected for at least a year following infection.

●Humoral immunity – Following infection with SARS-CoV-2, the majority of patients develop detectable serum antibodies to the receptor-binding domain of the viral spike protein and associated neutralizing activity . However, the magnitude of antibody response may be associated with severity of disease, and patients with mild infection may not mount detectable neutralizing antibodies . When neutralizing antibodies are elicited, they generally decline over several months after infection, although studies have reported detectable neutralizing activity up to 12 months . In one study of 121 convalescent plasma donors with initial spike-binding titers ≥1:80, titers declined slightly over five months but remained ≥1:80 in the vast majority, and neutralizing titers correlated with the binding titers . Other studies have also identified spike- and receptor-binding domain memory B cells that increased over the few months after infection as well as spike protein-specific plasma cells, and these findings suggest the potential for a long-term memory humoral response .

Neutralizing activity has been associated with protection from subsequent infection . Detectable binding antibodies, which generally correlate with neutralizing activity, are also associated with a reduced risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection . (See ‘Risk of reinfection’ below.)

●Cell-mediated immunity – Studies have also identified SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4 and CD8 T cell responses in patients who had recovered from COVID-19 and in individuals who had received COVID-19 vaccination, which suggest the potential for a durable T cell immune response .

Antibodies that neutralize SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-2-reactive CD4 T cells have been identified in some individuals without known exposure to SARS-CoV-2, and some of these appear to be cross-reactive with antigens from common cold coronaviruses . Whether these pre-existing immune responses impact the risk or the severity of COVID-19 and whether they will influence COVID-19 vaccine responses remain unknown.

Immune responses following vaccination are discussed in detail elsewhere. (See “COVID-19: Vaccines to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection”, section on ‘Immunogenicity, efficacy, and safety of select vaccines’.)

Risk of reinfection — The short-term risk of reinfection (eg, within the first several months after initial infection) is low. Prior infection reduces the risk of infection in the subsequent six to nine months by at least 80 to 85 percent . Several studies have estimated the risk of reinfection as less than 1 percent over that time frame . Vaccination is associated with a further reduction in the risk of reinfection, as discussed elsewhere (see “COVID-19: Vaccines to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection”, section on ‘History of SARS-CoV-2 infection’). The risk of reinfection may be greater with the Omicron variant. (See ‘Omicron (B.1.1.529 lineage)’ above.)

An observational study from Denmark attempted to evaluate the risk of reinfection by analyzing the risk of a positive PCR test during the second COVID-19 surge (September to December 2020) among individuals who had undergone PCR testing during the first COVID-19 surge (February to June 2020) . Of 11,068 individuals with a positive PCR test during the first surge, 72 tested positive during the second surge (0.65 percent), compared with 16,819 of 514,271 individuals (3.27 percent) who had tested negative during the first surge; the estimated “protective effect” of previous infection was approximately 80 percent. Age greater than 65 years was associated with a higher rate of testing positive in both surges.

These results are consistent with those from other observational studies that suggest a lower rate of SARS-CoV-2 PCR positivity among individuals with detectable antibodies against the virus . Reinfection among individuals who were seropositive at baseline has been associated with lower titers of anti-spike IgG and lower rates of detectable neutralizing activity . (See ‘Immune responses following infection’ above.)

Some studies suggest that reinfections are milder than initial infections. As an example, in a study from Qatar, the odds of severe disease among 1304 individuals with reinfection was 0.12 compared with age-, sex-, and infection date-matched individuals with an initial infection ; there were no cases of critical illness or death among the reinfection group (compared with 28 and 7, respectively, in the initial infection group). However, reinfections that were more severe than the initial infection as well as fatal reinfections have been reported .

Simply having a positive SARS-CoV-2 viral test after recovery does not necessarily indicate reinfection; sequencing that demonstrates a different strain at the time of presumptive reinfection is necessary to make the distinction between reinfection and prolonged or intermittent viral RNA shedding following an initial infection. (See “COVID-19: Diagnosis”, section on ‘Diagnosis of reinfection’ and ‘Viral shedding and period of infectiousness’ above.)

REF: https://www.uptodate.com/contents/covid-19-epidemiology-virology-and-prevention

There was some discussion about RAT vs PCR a day or two ago. Here’s a nice graph. Most of the news article that goes with it is OK too when you get past the “human interest story” start.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-30/how-accurate-are-covid-rapid-antigen-tests-vs-pcr/100729792

Chris Hayes: How Omicron’s Contagiousness Is Changing The Pandemic Normal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJwmW8DcGTY

“A COVID-positive child under the age of two has died in South Australia.

Premier Steven Marshall said the case will be referred to the coroner, and an investigation will determine whether COVID-19 was the cause of death.

The state has recorded 1,374 new positive cases overnight, a slight reduction on yesterday’s numbers.”

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-30/sa-records-1374-new-covid-cases/100730992

I feel it is going to get grim.

Michael V said:

“A COVID-positive child under the age of two has died in South Australia.

Premier Steven Marshall said the case will be referred to the coroner, and an investigation will determine whether COVID-19 was the cause of death.

The state has recorded 1,374 new positive cases overnight, a slight reduction on yesterday’s numbers.”

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-30/sa-records-1374-new-covid-cases/100730992

Bugger.

Michael V said:

“A COVID-positive child under the age of two has died in South Australia.

Premier Steven Marshall said the case will be referred to the coroner, and an investigation will determine whether COVID-19 was the cause of death.

The state has recorded 1,374 new positive cases overnight, a slight reduction on yesterday’s numbers.”

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-30/sa-records-1374-new-covid-cases/100730992

:-(

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-30/national-cabinet-live-blog-close-contact-definition/100731676

Michael V said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-30/national-cabinet-live-blog-close-contact-definition/100731676

I’m listening to Scotty to hotty now. I’m fucking so confused, no idea what the fuck any of what he is talking about to be honest.

Oh, fantastic, just fantastic.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-30/relaxed-covid-19-restrictions-will-result-in-more-cases-cmo-says/100732164

Michael V said:

Oh, fantastic, just fantastic.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-30/relaxed-covid-19-restrictions-will-result-in-more-cases-cmo-says/100732164

As the nation’s daily cases surpassed 21,000

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

Michael V said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-30/national-cabinet-live-blog-close-contact-definition/100731676

I’m listening to Scotty to hotty now. I’m fucking so confused, no idea what the fuck any of what he is talking about to be honest.

We have just joined the rest of the Covid world.

“What is important is the changes to these definitions today, and the complete abolition of the casual contact notion, means that this will have a positive impact on the furloughing issue, with particularly the health workforce.

As the Chief Medical Officer has said, of course we will see an increase in cases. That is not something that I do not expect.”

:Scott Morrison

fsm said:

“What is important is the changes to these definitions today, and the complete abolition of the casual contact notion, means that this will have a positive impact on the furloughing issue, with particularly the health workforce.

As the Chief Medical Officer has said, of course we will see an increase in cases. That is not something that I do not expect.”

:Scott Morrison

21,1561 new cases for NSW today.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-31/nsw-records-21151-covid-infections-six-deaths/100732338

buffy said:

transition said:

buffy said:

And for whoever it was wanted a definition of virulence:

Virulence

Virulence is defined as the degree of pathogenicity of a pathogen (bacteria, fungi, or viruses) and is determined by its ability to invade and multiply within the host.

From: Brenner’s Encyclopedia of Genetics (Second Edition), 2013

But I took that from ScienceDirect. This is the most applicable piece:

Viral Pathogenesis

Susan Payne, in Viruses, 2017
Virulence

Virulence is the relative ability of an infectious agent to cause disease. Thus virulent viruses have a greater propensity to cause disease (to be pathogens) in a greater proportion of infected hosts. Virulence determinants or factors are those genes and proteins that play key roles in disease development. Virulence determinants can range from surface/capsid proteins that determine cell/tissue tropism to small adapter proteins that alter cell-signaling cascades. Differences in virulence may even be determined by cis-acting viral sequences that control the relative abundance of specific viral transcripts and their protein products. In the case of RNA viruses, the degree of fidelity of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase can be a virulence determinant, as described in Chapter 10, Introduction to RNA Viruses.

Virulence of a virus also depends upon genetics, age, and overall health of the host. And it would not be surprising to find that the microbiome (the mixture of commensal bacteria and viruses in the host) can have an impact on virulence. In experimental situations, the route of inoculation or dose administered can have a major effect on virulence. Thus the study of virulence determinants requires an understanding of the complex interactions between virus and host (and perhaps environment).

Understanding the virulence determinants of a virus brings us full circle back to pathogenesis: The process by which a virus infects certain tissues, inhibits or induces various immune responses, or alters basic cellular processes. Thus the study of viral pathogenesis requires an understanding of virus molecular biology, host cell biology, and immune responses.

Why is it important to study pathogenesis? An obvious answer is that understanding pathogenesis is important for treatment. It allows the clinician to move past the empirical toward more directed treatments. It also provides a blueprint for understanding the likely course of an infection and may also provide a basis for administering supportive therapies that do not directly target the virus.

REF: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-microbiology/virulence

got a definition of your own, anything at all from your own experience, that you might put into your own words, or you just happy borrowing the lot

surely that’s not the definition you apply notionally of, applied the practical aspects of your life

Um…in medical matters you don’t make up your own definitions.

you’ve deferred to the authority of the formalism, the formalism of medicine and science related, yet everything rests on concepts, working concepts, the application of

and today, right this moment, Australians are being delivered, by way of propaganda, involving the deployment of medical terms

my reading is that there’s a program to de-medicalize covid

imagine, the possibility, people like yourself, being recruited to use medical terms, defer to literal definitions offered, further to hold beliefs that really probably qualify as notions, used instrumentally to de-medicalize something for a social objective (acceptance of endemic covid), the politics of getting that done, how it might lend to

Pick up a date on Tinder, sleep with them for two hours. Head home, they are not a close personal contact.

sarahs mum said:

Pick up a date on Tinder, sleep with them for two hours. Head home

Okay

South Australia refuses to adopt new close contact definition

So, it appears South Australia will resist the changes to the definition of close contact the national cabinet agreed to yesterday.

In a Facebook post earlier this morning, the premier, Steven Marshall, lays out his government’s definition of close contacts. Marshall says a close contact will be a:

Household and household-like contacts and intimate partners. Those who have been in a setting where there has been significant transmission of Covid-19 (and there has been greater than 15 minutes face-to-face contact). Those in high-risk communities/settings/workplaces where someone has tested positive to Covid-19 (and there has been greater than 15 minutes of face-to-face contact).

That is different to the definition introduced by Morrison, under which a close contact is someone who lives with or has been in a “household-like” situation with a confirmed Covid-19 case for at least four hours.

Marshall also refused to drop the reliance on PCR tests, saying close contacts will still need to get an “initial” PCR test and another one on day 6, or “immediately if symptoms develop”.

Yesterday, Morrison had said a RAT was enough for close contacts to be able to tell if they were still positive or not.

South Australia joins Western Australia as seemingly the only two states refusing to adopt the new changes.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2021/dec/31/australia-news-live-covid-morrison-rapid-test-nsw-victoria-albanese-queensland-case-numbers-new-year-coronavirus-sa-updates

sarahs mum said:

Pick up a date on Tinder, sleep with them for two hours. Head home, they are not a close personal contact.

pffft I wouldn’t be sleeping!

fsm said:

That fellow must have ears of steel.

Some good news from South Africa. The fourth wave has passed and the body count has stayed low.

transition said:

buffy said:

transition said:

got a definition of your own, anything at all from your own experience, that you might put into your own words, or you just happy borrowing the lot

surely that’s not the definition you apply notionally of, applied the practical aspects of your life

Um…in medical matters you don’t make up your own definitions.

you’ve deferred to the authority of the formalism, the formalism of medicine and science related, yet everything rests on concepts, working concepts, the application of

and today, right this moment, Australians are being delivered, by way of propaganda, involving the deployment of medical terms

my reading is that there’s a program to de-medicalize covid

imagine, the possibility, people like yourself, being recruited to use medical terms, defer to literal definitions offered, further to hold beliefs that really probably qualify as notions, used instrumentally to de-medicalize something for a social objective (acceptance of endemic covid), the politics of getting that done, how it might lend to

Rubbish.

My covid mask has a “standby” mode.

buffy said:

transition said:

buffy said:

Um…in medical matters you don’t make up your own definitions.

you’ve deferred to the authority of the formalism, the formalism of medicine and science related, yet everything rests on concepts, working concepts, the application of

and today, right this moment, Australians are being delivered, by way of propaganda, involving the deployment of medical terms

my reading is that there’s a program to de-medicalize covid

imagine, the possibility, people like yourself, being recruited to use medical terms, defer to literal definitions offered, further to hold beliefs that really probably qualify as notions, used instrumentally to de-medicalize something for a social objective (acceptance of endemic covid), the politics of getting that done, how it might lend to

Rubbish.

stay with me while I introduce you to the concept of medicalize, and its opposite, and when both might be used together dubiously

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/dec/30/ozsage-experts-warn-let-it-rip-covid-strategy-will-condemn-vulnerable-australians-to-death

I was just having a look at how various countries are going on the Worldometer site, and North Korea isn’t on the list. South Korea is though.
Quite odd and worrying.

Spiny Norman said:

I was just having a look at how various countries are going on the Worldometer site, and North Korea isn’t on the list. South Korea is though.
Quite odd and worrying.

Just unavailable data. No mystery really.

Spiny Norman said:

I was just having a look at how various countries are going on the Worldometer site, and North Korea isn’t on the list. South Korea is though.
Quite odd and worrying.

Why worrying?

North Korea has not given any data out and claims to have had no infections. Would you expect otherwise?

Spiny Norman said:

I was just having a look at how various countries are going on the Worldometer site, and North Korea isn’t on the list. South Korea is though.
Quite odd and worrying.

Yeah you wonder did they avoid it or it is rampant

Cymek said:

Spiny Norman said:

I was just having a look at how various countries are going on the Worldometer site, and North Korea isn’t on the list. South Korea is though.
Quite odd and worrying.

Yeah you wonder did they avoid it or it is rampant

Could task a satellite (not personally) to see if mass graves have been dug in the last year or so

Cymek said:

Cymek said:

Spiny Norman said:

I was just having a look at how various countries are going on the Worldometer site, and North Korea isn’t on the list. South Korea is though.
Quite odd and worrying.

Yeah you wonder did they avoid it or it is rampant

Could task a satellite (not personally) to see if mass graves have been dug in the last year or so

I’d be amazed if the Yanks haven’t already done that. If they had found such, they’d‘ve likely announced it (for political leverage).

Spiny Norman said:

I was just having a look at how various countries are going on the Worldometer site, and North Korea isn’t on the list. South Korea is though.
Quite odd and worrying.

North Korea has never been on the list. That was worrying for the first half of 2020, but we’ve just accepted it and moved on since then. Presumably North Korea considers Covid information of military strategic importance, and given their proximity to major superpowers I can’t fault them in that.

Turkmenistan has never been on the list either.

There’s one other country, in Africa, that has never been on the list – Eritrea?
And possibly another country on the west coast of Africa – possibly Western Sahara?

I presonally think that Tanzania has dropped off the list – it used to report cases in the first few months, but then stopped and we haven’t heard a whisper from it since.

JudgeMental said:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/dec/30/ozsage-experts-warn-let-it-rip-covid-strategy-will-condemn-vulnerable-australians-to-death

read that, cheers

quite foreseeable, even for average joe, perhaps average joe was intentionally ignored, but I guess that’s the point of it really, puts average joe in his place, marginalize the commoners

can’t have commoners dominate things, through democracy, how is the big money to maximize its returns, the big international players, borders and democracy being obstacles to that, possibility of interventions, even favorable interventions for average joe

and it is foreseeable, has been consistently for a quite a while

but all you get from the media is derrr not much is known yet about omicron, and it’s very different, chief of the country also sprouting the same

it, the problem has remained essentially the same, the contagiousness is the problem, no change there it just got more so

I heard a deception (my opinion, lack of forthrightness with what is known) regard that too yesterday on the electric rectangle, it was said, something like it’s as least as contagious as delta, I thought hell the car salesman are running the country

mollwollfumble said:

Spiny Norman said:

I was just having a look at how various countries are going on the Worldometer site, and North Korea isn’t on the list. South Korea is though.
Quite odd and worrying.

North Korea has never been on the list. That was worrying for the first half of 2020, but we’ve just accepted it and moved on since then. Presumably North Korea considers Covid information of military strategic importance, and given their proximity to major superpowers I can’t fault them in that.

Turkmenistan has never been on the list either.

There’s one other country, in Africa, that has never been on the list – Eritrea?
And possibly another country on the west coast of Africa – possibly Western Sahara?

I presonally think that Tanzania has dropped off the list – it used to report cases in the first few months, but then stopped and we haven’t heard a whisper from it since.

Ta.

Booster shot activated!

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

Booster shot activated!

Well done!
Spocky is due on the 7th of next month, myself on the 11th.

Spiny Norman said:

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

Booster shot activated!

Well done!
Spocky is due on the 7th of next month, myself on the 11th.

I’m the same day as Spocky

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

Booster shot activated!

Onya!

Ours are booked for January.

Spiny Norman said:

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

Booster shot activated!

Well done!
Spocky is due on the 7th of next month, myself on the 11th.

I think I’m due for mine from 1 Feb. It was 1 April, but now I think it got brought forward from 6 months to 4 months. My second shot was on 1 October.

ABC News:

‘National cabinet has already amended its new COVID-19 rules, further relaxing testing arrangements by removing the requirement for confirmed cases in isolation to do a rapid antigen test on the sixth day after being exposed.

The change has been made less than 24 hours after the rules were announced following a snap national cabinet meeting on Thursday.

It means people who have had COVID-19 but do not have symptoms no longer have to return a negative test before they end their seven-day isolation period.’

If you can look at yourself in the mirror, and keep a straight face when you say ‘i feel fine, my quarantine is over’, then that’s good enough.

captain_spalding said:

ABC News:

‘National cabinet has already amended its new COVID-19 rules, further relaxing testing arrangements by removing the requirement for confirmed cases in isolation to do a rapid antigen test on the sixth day after being exposed.

The change has been made less than 24 hours after the rules were announced following a snap national cabinet meeting on Thursday.

It means people who have had COVID-19 but do not have symptoms no longer have to return a negative test before they end their seven-day isolation period.’

If you can look at yourself in the mirror, and keep a straight face when you say ‘i feel fine, my quarantine is over’, then that’s good enough.

Effing mongrels.

It’s probably because nobody in government ordered the RATs. And nobody in government wants to pay for them.

captain_spalding said:

ABC News:

‘National cabinet has already amended its new COVID-19 rules, further relaxing testing arrangements by removing the requirement for confirmed cases in isolation to do a rapid antigen test on the sixth day after being exposed.

The change has been made less than 24 hours after the rules were announced following a snap national cabinet meeting on Thursday.

It means people who have had COVID-19 but do not have symptoms no longer have to return a negative test before they end their seven-day isolation period.’

If you can look at yourself in the mirror, and keep a straight face when you say ‘i feel fine, my quarantine is over’, then that’s good enough.

scratches head

When elder sprog was given a +ve result she had to quarantine for 10 days and was thwn allowed out into the community without having to undergo any additional testing. It was explained to her that a test would in all likelihood come up +ve as she would be still shedding viral remnants. On the other hand SWMBO and I needed to get a -ve test to be allowed out of quarantine as a close contact.

sarahs mum said:

Damn, I usually have it in the bathroom.

sarahs mum said:

giggle

:)

Just been told that one of my god sons has got it.

sibeen said:

Just been told that one of my god sons has got it.

Bugger.

sibeen said:

Just been told that one of my god sons has got it.

Does he work for the Stars BBL team?

sibeen said:

Just been told that one of my god sons has got it.

One of? Are you some sort of mafia bigwig?

Spiny Norman said:

It seems like that, that’s for sure.

Spiny Norman said:

yeah.. that seems to hit the nail.

Spiny Norman said:

just read that out to the lady verbatim without any context

she looked at me half amused and said that’s sounds like a covid strategy

Two couples that were supposed to be coming around tonight for a small get together have backed off. Each has one of the partners down with the rona.

sibeen said:

Two couples that were supposed to be coming around tonight for a small get together have backed off. Each has one of the partners down with the rona.

“You will never find a more wretched hive of germs and contagion. We must be cautious”

JudgeMental said:

sibeen said:

Two couples that were supposed to be coming around tonight for a small get together have backed off. Each has one of the partners down with the rona.

“You will never find a more wretched hive of germs and contagion. We must be cautious”

he could have gone a BBQ.

JudgeMental said:

sibeen said:

Two couples that were supposed to be coming around tonight for a small get together have backed off. Each has one of the partners down with the rona.

“You will never find a more wretched hive of germs and contagion. We must be cautious”

They Mos Eisley come at night, Mos Eisley

sarahs mum said:

JudgeMental said:

sibeen said:

Two couples that were supposed to be coming around tonight for a small get together have backed off. Each has one of the partners down with the rona.

“You will never find a more wretched hive of germs and contagion. We must be cautious”

he could have gone a BBQ.

I am doing a barbie.

sibeen said:

sarahs mum said:

JudgeMental said:

“You will never find a more wretched hive of germs and contagion. We must be cautious”

he could have gone a BBQ.

I am doing a barbie.

no probs then.

Apparently Boonie has got the Rona after the Boxing Day Test. Travis Head is out of the Sydney test too, also with the Rona. Half the Melbourne Stars team seem to have it too.

turning into a bit of a superspreader event… to nobody’s great surprise.

While Eastern Europe and the Carib are still dominating the death rate charts, Eswatini seems to be suffering a third waves of deaths as well.

Meanwhile the global death rate appears to be in decline but there were 1.8 million new cases detected in a day, which is quite unprecedented, so we’ll know more about how that’s going in a couple of weeks.

Peter Dutton’s idea of doing a barbie

dv said:

Peter Dutton’s idea of doing a barbie

santa klaus

sarahs mum said:

sibeen said:

sarahs mum said:

he could have gone a BBQ.

I am doing a barbie.

no probs then.

If you believe Scummo.

Spiny Norman said:

Rather like one of Dave Allen’s comments from years ago:

‘Statistics show that drink-driving is involved in twenty-five per cent of all road accidents.

That means that 75% of accidents are caused by sober people.

Get ‘em off the road, and us drunks will be a lot safer.’

Today’s Qld figures:

JudgeMental said:

I have been thinking along these lines in my being pissed off with Gutwein. Tassie has so many oldies and disabilities peeps.

(And I had been thinking Gutwein was doing okay for Tassie liberal premier for a time…)

JudgeMental said:

Thumbs up!

Oh dear. My nephew (who is on Day 5 of his solo wilderness walk) sent a satellite text to my sister today. To quote her:

>He’d managed to get a tiny bit of reception on his mobile phone, just enough to read a text telling him he is a direct contact of a work colleague who has tested positive to covid, and that he should have a PCB test and isolate himself. That text had been sent on Monday.

The rules have all changed in the past few days and as he’s feeling fine he’ll continue his walk and do a rapid antigen test when he returns. He’s been in total isolation on his walk anyway!

Strictly speaking J, A and I should have a RAT test too, but there are none available until at least the middle of next week. We’re all feeling fine anyway. I rang A to let him know – he was about to get into H’s rather crowded pool, along with H, L, his parents, sister and her 2 kids!<

Bubblecar said:

Oh dear. My nephew (who is on Day 5 of his solo wilderness walk) sent a satellite text to my sister today. To quote her:

>He’d managed to get a tiny bit of reception on his mobile phone, just enough to read a text telling him he is a direct contact of a work colleague who has tested positive to covid, and that he should have a PCB test and isolate himself. That text had been sent on Monday.

The rules have all changed in the past few days and as he’s feeling fine he’ll continue his walk and do a rapid antigen test when he returns. He’s been in total isolation on his walk anyway!

Strictly speaking J, A and I should have a RAT test too, but there are none available until at least the middle of next week. We’re all feeling fine anyway. I rang A to let him know – he was about to get into H’s rather crowded pool, along with H, L, his parents, sister and her 2 kids!<

Your odds are lowering now, too. Not to sibeen or poik’s lows though.

We have 12 COVID cases in Toowoomba Hospital now.

But some of them are there for infection control reasons, as they have nowhere safe to isolate in the community.

captain_spalding said:

We have 12 COVID cases in Toowoomba Hospital now.

But some of them are there for infection control reasons, as they have nowhere safe to isolate in the community.

So do the published figures include or exclude such folk?

buffy said:

captain_spalding said:

We have 12 COVID cases in Toowoomba Hospital now.

But some of them are there for infection control reasons, as they have nowhere safe to isolate in the community.

So do the published figures include or exclude such folk?

Include.

Just imagine if covid had started in a band camp. it would have stayed there.

One in 25 people in England had Covid last week

Official figures show one in 15 people in London had coronavirus in week ending 23 December

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/31/one-in-25-people-in-england-had-covid-last-week

Woman self-isolates in plane toilet for five hours after Covid-positive test mid-flight

Marisa Fotieo says she was supplied with food and drinks in cubicle after throat began to hurt during flight from US to Iceland

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/31/woman-self-isolates-in-plane-toilet-for-five-hours-after-covid-positive-test-mid-flight

sarahs mum said:

Woman self-isolates in plane toilet for five hours after Covid-positive test mid-flight

Marisa Fotieo says she was supplied with food and drinks in cubicle after throat began to hurt during flight from US to Iceland

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/31/woman-self-isolates-in-plane-toilet-for-five-hours-after-covid-positive-test-mid-flight

That sounds an unpleasant ordeal.

I try top avoid watching Covid on the TV news, but …

200,000 cases in France at the moment.

Pfitzer was developed in Europe. Because of Brexit and other government stupidity, the British haven’t had it available for injections for about a whole 12 months. Ditto Israel, which has just received its first shipment. Britain hasn’t received its first shipment yet.

China is doing everything right, again.

• All covid testing staff wear head-to toe protective lightweight suits with plastic face masks.
• Surface cleaning on a regular basis of everything people touch, including ATMs and cash registers.
• Lockdown of a major city. And when the Chinese do lockdown they REALLY do lockdown, so no food in or out. Plenty of food staples available but not luxuries.
• Not even a single Covid death in China since 25 Jan 2021
• China is well into distributibuting vaccines.

The following is an accurate scale model of Australia’s border quarantine.

Feeling poorly today, I was ok with the last two shots but this one… ugggg.

Woke up last night alternating between shivering and sweating, all my bones ache and head isn’t the best either

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

Feeling poorly today, I was ok with the last two shots but this one… ugggg.

Woke up last night alternating between shivering and sweating, all my bones ache and head isn’t the best either

Which vax did you get?

Bubblecar said:

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

Feeling poorly today, I was ok with the last two shots but this one… ugggg.

Woke up last night alternating between shivering and sweating, all my bones ache and head isn’t the best either

Which vax did you get?

pfizer all three times

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

Bubblecar said:

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

Feeling poorly today, I was ok with the last two shots but this one… ugggg.

Woke up last night alternating between shivering and sweating, all my bones ache and head isn’t the best either

Which vax did you get?

pfizer all three times

Ah. I assumed we’re supposed to get a different one for the booster.

Bubblecar said:

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

Bubblecar said:

Which vax did you get?

pfizer all three times

Ah. I assumed we’re supposed to get a different one for the booster.

…I had AZ for the first two and I’m expecting the booster will be pfizer.

Bubblecar said:

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

Bubblecar said:

Which vax did you get?

pfizer all three times

Ah. I assumed we’re supposed to get a different one for the booster.

That was my understanding also.
I had 2 x AZ & 1 x Pfizer.

No idea.

Bubblecar said:

Bubblecar said:

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

pfizer all three times

Ah. I assumed we’re supposed to get a different one for the booster.

…I had AZ for the first two and I’m expecting the booster will be pfizer.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/can-you-mix-and-match-your-covid-19-vaccine-and-booster-shot-brands/3fb9f66a-53cb-4ec4-96ba-36cc1dcecc5c

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

No idea.

Government says:

Vaccine types for booster doses

The Comirnaty (Pfizer) and Spikevax (Moderna) vaccines are approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and recommended by ATAGI as a COVID-19 booster dose.

You can have the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine as a booster dose regardless of which vaccine you had for your first 2 doses.

https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/covid-19-vaccines/getting-your-vaccination/booster-doses

Queenslanders will be required to start wearing masks indoors from tomorrow as the state recorded 2,266 new cases, Deputy Premier Steven Miles said.

Mr Miles said the new cases were recorded between 7am and 7pm yesterday, which he said was a new reporting period.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-01/qld-coronavirus-covid-omicron-latest-new-cases/100732908

sibeen said:

Queenslanders will be required to start wearing masks indoors from tomorrow as the state recorded 2,266 new cases, Deputy Premier Steven Miles said.

Mr Miles said the new cases were recorded between 7am and 7pm yesterday, which he said was a new reporting period.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-01/qld-coronavirus-covid-omicron-latest-new-cases/100732908

We in Tasmania were required to wear masks indoors in shops and venues etc long before our cases reached those levels.

Currently on 520 cases.

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

Feeling poorly today, I was ok with the last two shots but this one… ugggg.

Woke up last night alternating between shivering and sweating, all my bones ache and head isn’t the best either

Have a cuppla cleansing ales.

:)

sibeen said:

Queenslanders will be required to start wearing masks indoors from tomorrow as the state recorded 2,266 new cases, Deputy Premier Steven Miles said.

Mr Miles said the new cases were recorded between 7am and 7pm yesterday, which he said was a new reporting period.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-01/qld-coronavirus-covid-omicron-latest-new-cases/100732908

whatever numbers double them, triple or whatever, likely won’t be any less accurate or less helpful than the numbers they give you, at least if you overstate the numbers you have some chance of them becoming accurate at some point, whereas the number they give are never accurate

>>Support for use of a different vaccine for the booster dose comes from an unpublished, nonrandomized, open-label trial presented to the FDA . Participants who had received a primary series of one of the three vaccines authorized in the United States were given a booster dose with the same vaccine or one of the other two. In all groups, binding and neutralizing antibody titers (targeting wild-type virus and variants) following the booster dose rose at least fourfold compared with pre-boost levels, and heterologous boost resulted in similar or higher antibody responses as using the same vaccine to boost. Among those who received a primary Ad26.COV2.S vaccine, receipt of an mRNA vaccine boost rather than an Ad26.COV2.S boost was associated with a greater rise in antibody titers; however, the trial was not designed to compare immunogenicity across groups, and other differences between groups (eg, the interval at which the booster dose was provided varied from 11 to 41 weeks) may have contributed to the apparent immunogenicity difference. No safety concerns were identified; the pattern of systemic symptoms was largely similar across all groups.<<

Note, unpublished, non randomized, open label. They are red flags for research. However, most sources seem to think it’s safe to use a different vaccine for the booster. Note also the caution about using an mRNA vaccine after AZ increasing antibody titers (amount of antibody in the blood after boost) – the trial was not designed to test this. And you don’t go back just on a fishing trip with your data.

REF: https://www.uptodate.com/contents/covid-19-vaccines-to-prevent-sars-cov-2-infection

Lots of stuff there about the vaccines.

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

Feeling poorly today, I was ok with the last two shots but this one… ugggg.

Woke up last night alternating between shivering and sweating, all my bones ache and head isn’t the best either

I’ve heard that third shot can have that effect from a few people :/

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

Feeling poorly today, I was ok with the last two shots but this one… ugggg.

Woke up last night alternating between shivering and sweating, all my bones ache and head isn’t the best either

So what was the shot? Chivas? Bundy? Or my fav tipple, gin?

Ian said:

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

Feeling poorly today, I was ok with the last two shots but this one… ugggg.

Woke up last night alternating between shivering and sweating, all my bones ache and head isn’t the best either

I’ve heard that third shot can have that effect from a few people :/

Trev shouldn’t worry. More pronounced side effects after the booster are just signs of a robust immune system, according to the doctors.

I assume Trev is under 65. Older people have fewer side effects because their immune systems are weaker and less triggered by the booster.

https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2021/booster-shot-side-effects.html

“Contact tracing (exposure sites) — coronavirus (COVID-19)

Changes to contact tracing in Queensland
From 31 December 2021, we will only notify of major outbreak venues or super-spreader events in Queensland.

We are no longer routinely listing exposure sites in Queensland since transmission of COVID-19 is now widespread throughout metropolitan, regional and remote Queensland.

You need to consider any movement through the Queensland community as a risk for COVID-19 infection. So make sure to maintain social distancing, perform regular hand hygiene, monitor for symptoms, and get tested if you develop any symptoms.”

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
So – no list of exposure sites to check at least daily for 14 days, as required by my border pass. All previous exposure sites are gone. “Let it rip” seems to be the new COVID model in QLD, too. This most annoying.
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

https://www.qld.gov.au/health/conditions/health-alerts/coronavirus-covid-19/current-status/contact-tracing#QLD

Bubblecar said:

Ian said:

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

Feeling poorly today, I was ok with the last two shots but this one… ugggg.

Woke up last night alternating between shivering and sweating, all my bones ache and head isn’t the best either

I’ve heard that third shot can have that effect from a few people :/

Trev shouldn’t worry. More pronounced side effects after the booster are just signs of a robust immune system, according to the doctors.

I assume Trev is under 65. Older people have fewer side effects because their immune systems are weaker and less triggered by the booster.

https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2021/booster-shot-side-effects.html

cheers and I’m 51

Michael V said:

“Contact tracing (exposure sites) — coronavirus (COVID-19)

Changes to contact tracing in Queensland
From 31 December 2021, we will only notify of major outbreak venues or super-spreader events in Queensland.

We are no longer routinely listing exposure sites in Queensland since transmission of COVID-19 is now widespread throughout metropolitan, regional and remote Queensland.

You need to consider any movement through the Queensland community as a risk for COVID-19 infection. So make sure to maintain social distancing, perform regular hand hygiene, monitor for symptoms, and get tested if you develop any symptoms.”

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
So – no list of exposure sites to check at least daily for 14 days, as required by my border pass. All previous exposure sites are gone. “Let it rip” seems to be the new COVID model in QLD, too. This most annoying.
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

https://www.qld.gov.au/health/conditions/health-alerts/coronavirus-covid-19/current-status/contact-tracing#QLD

lady and me just having conversation about a few things, context being there’s a sprinkle indicated over the peninsula, quite a few down south, whatever i’m thinking the real numbers are probably triple or much more than indicated, only two LGA without any indicated, ours is one

anyway I put to her not to get stresses, but to contemplate the likely or probable situation unfolding in the next four to six weeks, being that it will likely turn up in the family, or contacts of family

so there’s avoiding it, lowering risk, very difficult thing to do, we’re all a huggy mob, daughter’s business has wide range of clients and variously contacts, three grandkids at school and two older ones work in hospitality, oldest of latter goes to university in adelaide also has a girlfriend down south here that works in the business, and there’s the reality it will eventually turn up, fairly soon I expect

it’s a dog’s breakfast of prophylaxis involved, but what we came around to in the conversation is of when it turns up, possible situations

avoiding it’s one thing, but just as important is the situation when it does turn up

similar conversation with M&D lastnight also, social relations get tightened up there, the exchange of breathable air mostly, they are in the faded stage of their AZ looking to have a booster real soon

I tells ya it’s a dog’s breakfast, and to think not long back SA had none, and the geniuses thought to introduce it so that all could be equal, the program of global covid egalitarianism, makes the chinese seem a shade friendlier, in that way

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

cheers and I’m 51

Who left this kid unattended in here? No wonder there are toys strewn all over the place…

This as Perrottet was pleading with citizens to get out there and party:

NSW hospitals resort to flying nurses in from overseas as staff are begged to take extra shifts amid Covid crisis

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jan/01/nsw-hospitals-resort-to-flying-nurses-in-from-overseas-as-staff-are-begged-to-take-extra-shifts-amid-covid-crisis

Bubblecar said:

This as Perrottet was pleading with citizens to get out there and party:

NSW hospitals resort to flying nurses in from overseas as staff are begged to take extra shifts amid Covid crisis

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jan/01/nsw-hospitals-resort-to-flying-nurses-in-from-overseas-as-staff-are-begged-to-take-extra-shifts-amid-covid-crisis

But…but…we’re in a strong position, Mr Car.

Speedy said:

Bubblecar said:

This as Perrottet was pleading with citizens to get out there and party:

NSW hospitals resort to flying nurses in from overseas as staff are begged to take extra shifts amid Covid crisis

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jan/01/nsw-hospitals-resort-to-flying-nurses-in-from-overseas-as-staff-are-begged-to-take-extra-shifts-amid-covid-crisis

But…but…we’re in a strong position, Mr Car.

Strongly stuffed position, by the look of things.

Bubblecar said:

Speedy said:

Bubblecar said:

This as Perrottet was pleading with citizens to get out there and party:

NSW hospitals resort to flying nurses in from overseas as staff are begged to take extra shifts amid Covid crisis

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jan/01/nsw-hospitals-resort-to-flying-nurses-in-from-overseas-as-staff-are-begged-to-take-extra-shifts-amid-covid-crisis

But…but…we’re in a strong position, Mr Car.

Strongly stuffed position, by the look of things.

Strong nonetheless :)

Health advice made public under Victoria’s pandemic laws reveals Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton’s recommended COVID-19 restrictions were not put in place by the government over the festive season.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-01/victoria-new-covid-cases/100734090

It seems that most governments, no matter the colour, are playing political football.

>>…..get out there and party….”

who was that chap in WW2 that de-medicalized poisoning, gassing people, he really tapped into the special love humans are capable of, made what ordinarily would be horrors part of acceptable social policy

transition said:

>>…..get out there and party….”

who was that chap in WW2 that de-medicalized poisoning, gassing people, he really tapped into the special love humans are capable of, made what ordinarily would be horrors part of acceptable social policy

more I read of news, announcements, more absurd it all seems

i’d expect if anyone did proper analysis of the situation elimination looks a whole lot stronger as a proposition

if you add all the vaccine illness and injuries, disruption to work, need to watch out for (heart inflammation etc) for weeks afterward, some people get seriously crook, and not just for couple days

my only point re that above is that of the proposition of endemic covid you add it to the burden, you don’t negate it

add to the endemic covid situation being played out, with all the disruption getting to hoped for herd immunity (circulating covid used to boost immunity) is that it contributes massively to the probability of unfriendly mutations in the future

and subject absurd, did Australia get omicron from a country that tolerated endemic covid, and if Australia did isn’t there a lesson in that

anyway should be a wonderful turnout to smash the public medical system, it’s potentially socialist medicine is, generous government medical services, caring about people that way, poor people too

democracy has potentially socialist attributes, perhaps both could be fixed

say it again while i’m here, the emphasized distinction of omicron over delta and previous variants is a propaganda device, the problem has to-date been the contagiousness of covid, that’s been an unchanging fact, the contagiousness increased with omicron, the core problem didn’t recede any, decline any, covid become more contagious

Going down? NSW records 18,278 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths

roughbarked said:

Going down? NSW records 18,278 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths

Too early to tell.

Michael V said:

roughbarked said:

Going down? NSW records 18,278 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths

Too early to tell.

Numbers definitely not going down in Let-it-Rip Queensland, that’s for sure…

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————

“Queensland has recorded 3,587 new cases of COVID-19.

The state now has 16,688 active cases.

There are currently five patients in intensive care, but none of them are on ventilators, with 112 patients in total requiring treatment in hospital.”

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-02/queensland-records-3587-new-cases-of-covid-19-omicron/100734970

Michael V said:

Michael V said:

roughbarked said:

Going down? NSW records 18,278 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths

Too early to tell.

Numbers definitely not going down in Let-it-Rip Queensland, that’s for sure…

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————

“Queensland has recorded 3,587 new cases of COVID-19.

The state now has 16,688 active cases.

There are currently five patients in intensive care, but none of them are on ventilators, with 112 patients in total requiring treatment in hospital.”

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-02/queensland-records-3587-new-cases-of-covid-19-omicron/100734970

Today’s Qld figures:

I was speaking to someone yesterday who personally knows 6 people who have recently come down with Covid.

All 6 were double vaccinated.
All 6 needed hospitalisation.
Some of the 6 ended up in ICU.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/sacked-for-being-vaxxed-church-defends-decision-to-terminate-worker-who-got-covid-jab-20211230-p59kvu.html

mollwollfumble said:

I was speaking to someone yesterday who personally knows 6 people who have recently come down with Covid.

All 6 were double vaccinated.
All 6 needed hospitalisation.
Some of the 6 ended up in ICU.

what ages, and what pre-existing conditions?

Michael V said:

Michael V said:

roughbarked said:

Going down? NSW records 18,278 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths

Too early to tell.

Numbers definitely not going down in Let-it-Rip Queensland, that’s for sure…

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————

“Queensland has recorded 3,587 new cases of COVID-19.

The state now has 16,688 active cases.

There are currently five patients in intensive care, but none of them are on ventilators, with 112 patients in total requiring treatment in hospital.”

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-02/queensland-records-3587-new-cases-of-covid-19-omicron/100734970

And we ascertained yesterday that the number in hospital includes people who simply cannot isolate at home, not necessarily unwell people. It sort of muddles the numbers a bit.

party_pants said:

mollwollfumble said:

I was speaking to someone yesterday who personally knows 6 people who have recently come down with Covid.

All 6 were double vaccinated.
All 6 needed hospitalisation.
Some of the 6 ended up in ICU.

what ages, and what pre-existing conditions?

And was the “someone” wearing an alfoil hat?

mollwollfumble said:

I was speaking to someone yesterday who personally knows 6 people who have recently come down with Covid.

All 6 were double vaccinated.
All 6 needed hospitalisation.
Some of the 6 ended up in ICU.

Might be best to avoid that person. They seem to be something of a Jonah.

Tamb said:

And was the “someone” wearing an alfoil hat?

That was Moll.

captain_spalding said:

mollwollfumble said:

I was speaking to someone yesterday who personally knows 6 people who have recently come down with Covid.

All 6 were double vaccinated.
All 6 needed hospitalisation.
Some of the 6 ended up in ICU.

Might be best to avoid that person. They seem to be something of a Jonah.

Or they work in a nursing home…